Sussex County Courthouse in Georgetown

Sussex County Courthouse in Georgetown.

GEORGETOWN, Del. - Jay Droney, one of the former Millville firefighters charged with a hate crime, was in court for a preliminary hearing Thursday morning. 

The preliminary hearing took place in the Court of Common Pleas. Droney was waived up to Superior Court so both his case and Jordan Hastings' case will be handled there.

CoastTV spoke with a representative with the Delaware Court System who says there are two very likely options moving forward.

Droney and Hastings could have a preliminary hearing in Superior or the cases could go to indictment.

According to the courts, 99 percent of cases will go to indictment.

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This give the prosecution a change to present the evidence to a grand jury and the grand jury decides if the cases should be indicted. 

If the grand jury decides to move forward with the indictments, that will then become public.

Jay Droney and Jordan Hastings face felony hate crime charges after the affidavit for the case states they chased a black paid employee with a noose at the Millville Volunteer Fire Company.

Droney and Hastings were due in court on Thursday, May 1. Hastings waived up to Superior Court then and Droney's hearing was continued to Thursday, May 22. 

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Zakiya Jennings joined the CoastTV team as a Video Journalist in April 2024. She was born and raised in Somerset, New Jersey. Zakiya received her bachelor's degree from the largest HBCU in Maryland, Morgan State University, where she majored in Multimedia Journalism with a minor in Political Science. During her time at Morgan State, she was a trusted reporter for all three of the university's media platforms - WEAA 88.9FM, BEAR TV, and The Spokesman, the student run online publication.

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