By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA–A Shelby County grand jury will decide in the coming months if it will uphold several charges against a suspect who was allegedly involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident in Helena on May 2.

On Aug. 11, charges of manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and unlawful distribution of a controlled substance against 28-year-old Bessemer man Damian Lamar Jackson were bound over to a grand jury after a preliminary hearing.

Jackson was arrested and charged with manslaughter, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries on May 3. The charges came after 33-year-old Helena resident Holley Myrick was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident on the afternoon of Monday, May 2.

Jackson allegedly struck her with a Yukon XL SUV and fled the scene of the accident, but was later apprehended after an Alabaster police officer located Jackson and the Yukon in a driveway in Alabaster.

According to court documents, on May 26, Jackson filed a handwritten motion for dismissal on the manslaughter charge claiming “While driving off in a gold Yukon XL 2005, removing himself from a verbal dispute, the victim jumped onto his moving vehicle, not by his (Damian L. Jackson) force and it resulted in the victim’s death.”

On May 27, Crowson denied the motion to dismiss the manslaughter charge stating “The court is not permitted to receive such ex-parte communication.”

As of Aug. 25, Jackson remains in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $75,000.

Manslaughter is a Class B felony and if convicted, Jackson faces up to 20 years in prison.

Leaving the scene of an accident with injury is a Class C felony and if convicted, Jackson faces up to 10 years in prison.