Homeless man indicted for attempted murder of Athens social worker

Cedric Cortes Smith

By Joe Johnson

A grand jury this week indicted a homeless man for the attempted murder last summer of a social worker who he attacked with a machete.

Cedric Smith, 34, was charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, multiple counts of aggravated assault and aggravated battery, and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony, according to the indictment filed Tuesday in Superior Court.

The charges stem from Smith’s attack on a employee at the Day Service Center for the homeless on North Avenue that is operated by Advantage Behavioral Health Systems.

The incident occurred on June 20, after the employee kicked Smith out of the facility for bringing alcohol onto the premises.

He reportedly laid in wait for the employee, 54-year-old Christopher Sullens, and attacked as the victim walked to his car after work.

He struck Sullens several times in the head and face with the machete, inflicting life-threatening injuries.

The social worker was flown by helicopter to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where doctors saved his life, but were unable to save one of his eyes.

Smith had been prevented by causing further harm to Sullens by the victim’s coworkers who rushed to his aid and pulled off the attacker and held him for the police.

At the time of the incident, Smith was on parole from a prison sentence imposed for being convicted of a 2017 assault in which he used a razor blade to cut the neck of a University of Georgia student in an unprovoked attack during a chance encounter on an Athens street.

Smith would face a possible sentence of 30 years in prison if convicted of criminal attempt to commit murder.