Joe Kovac

A Bibb County sheriff’s deputy was stabbed to death early Tuesday by an apparently handcuffed inmate at the county jail who grabbed a knife the deputy was thought to have had in his possession, officials said.

Middle Georgia’s top federal prosecutor, Charles E. “Charlie” Peeler, is stepping down later this week, according to a statement emailed to news outlets Wednesday.

He plans to leave office at the end of the day Friday.

Entering the final month of what has already been a record-breaking year for violent deaths in Macon, county officials on Monday denounced “senseless, crazy conduct” that included a Thanksgiving-weekend slaying in the heart of downtown that left a young woman dead, five people shot and wounded and two others stabbed.

Bibb County tenants and property owners are once again heading to court for eviction cases even as confusion over federal protections persists.