Railroad to Jail in Terrell County Georgia
February 28, 2001
by Dr. Ridgely A. Mu'min Muhammad
Back on October 10, 2000 I did an article called "Terror in Terrell County" in which I gave a little history of this "Terrible" county. I won’t go into that history again, you can read it at http://www.muhammadfarms.com/The_Farmer_Newsletter. It is now February 28, 2001, four months later, and though we had prayed that Mr. Bogans would "receive a measure of justice." It has not happened. Instead, now he is in jail. Let me bring you up to date:
"It seems that on September 18, 2000, a local white farmer pulled him and another Black man over while driving on a county road in Terrell County. The white man pulled a gun on them, and accused them of stealing his hay. There were no bales of hay on the truck, but this white man threatened to shoot them if they did not take them to the stolen hay or tell him who stole the hay. According to Mr. Bogans, he made him get out of the truck that he was in and ride with him. Mr. Bogans took him to another Black man’s house just to get out of the truck and have witnesses to see the said gun, and tell them to call the police. When the police arrived, Mr. Bogans told the deputy sheriff that this white man pulled a gun on him. Mr. Bogans tried to take out a warrant on this big white farmer in "Terrible Terrell" county. Although Mr. Bogans has a statement from eyewitness of the gun incident, 22 days have passed, it is October 10, 2000 and the Magistrate of "Terrible Terrell" county has not issued a warrant for the alleged assailants arrest.
I saw the police report and indeed it does say that Mr. Bogans complained about this well known white farmer of Terrell County Georgia pulling a gun on him."
Mr. Bogans was never charged for stealing the hay and Mr. Copeland has never been served with a warrant. (See picture of Bogans' truck with raw peanuts not hay)
However, on November 24, 2001 Mr. Bogans was arrested on charges of assault on Mr. Colden "Snook" Rainey, a county commissioner and burglary of this commissioner's convenience store, Snook’s in downtown Bronwood. Mr. Bogans had come in on the 24th complaining to Mr. Rainey about a car that he had brought to "Snook’s" other business next door, Rainey’s Tire and Muffler. Mr. Bogans claimed that Mr. Rainey had not fixed the car properly and had overcharged him on top of that. "The car was running when I brought it in for a water pump to be replaced, but now it won’t crank", he told this reporter over the telephone after his arrest.
He allegedly pushed Mr. Rainey in the face and stormed out of the convenience store between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. Mr. Bogans said that he went around the corner to "Clarence’s’ Place", a barbecue and pool room to cool down, he sat in a friends car from 7:30 to 8:00 while his friend ate some barbecue, then the friend drove him home by 8:10 p.m. He was arrested latter that night on the charge that a burglary occurred some time before 8:30 p.m. The only things supposedly missing from the store was a carton of Kool cigarettes and about $31 in coins.
Bail was not set for Mr. Bogans for several days, but later set at $23,000. Mrs. Bogans got a bondsman to post bond, but the Sheriff said that he needed $23,000 in cash. So Mr. Bogans remained in jail.
On Tuesday, February 27th, 72 people were brought in as potential jurors: 36 black and 36 white. When the jury was finally agreed upon, there were 8 whites and 4 blacks in a county that is over 60% black.
The police that investigated the scene testified that the front door panel glass was broken which allowed entry into the store. Supposedly a tire rim was used to break the glass. The tire rim and glass was found on the OUTSIDE of the broken door. The cash register was smashed out front on the cement with money still in it. No finger prints were found at the scene of the crime accept on a carton of cigarettes, which were shown to be Mr. Bogans’ prints.
However it seems that neither the tire rim, cash register nor cigarette carton with the prints on it was kept as material evidence. They were all given back to Mr. Rainey.
The defense brought Mr. Bogans’ friend to testify of Mr. Bogans’ whereabouts and activities during the alleged break in. However, to no avail.
The only evidence that the prosecution brought forward were two packs of Kool cigarettes that were supposedly found on Mr. Bogans, but NOT listed on the personal affects document that is filled out whenever you are arrested. There was no broken carton of cigarettes found at the scene that these packs could have come out of. At the last minute the prosecution brought in a black leather overcoat that supposedly belonged to Mr. Bogans and Mr. Rainey was brought back on stage to testify that this coat was the one that Mr. Bogans was wearing when he was in his store at 6:30 p.m., November 24th.
This coat was also not on the document which had the list of Mr. Bogans personal affects when arrested that same night. In fact the Sheriff’s deputy was sent over to get that coat for the first time, today, February 28th. The coat was found in a closet at the jail house with no identifying marks that could be associated with Mr. Bogans, neither had that coat been numbered or catalogued in any manner. Pouf, there it was! By the way, Mrs. Bogans said that at the jail a worker,"...told me that he was wet...he did not have no leather coat...he was not wearing a coat that day."
When we had a break, I went outside to talk to Mr. Bogans’ defense lawyer, Phil Cannon. I explained to him the significance of the tire rim not being held as evidence, the placement of the rim and the fact that the Judge was allowing this new "coat" evidence to be thrown in at the last minute. He said that he understood the significance of those facts and would address them in his summation. I taped his summation and the summation of the prosecutor, Charles M. Ferguson. Mr. Cannon did not emphasize these issues and said nothing about the placement of the tire rim or the broken glass.
The prosecutor in his summation stated that the "burglary" was not a matter of theft but of revenge. He emphasized that Mr. Bogans lost control, evidenced by his pushing Mr. Rainey. "What a reasonable person would have done, after he felt that he had been unfairly treated, was to go down and make out a complaint to the sheriff’s office," the prosecutor said.
As you remember Mr. Bogans did go to the Magistrate to have a warrant issued on Mr. Copeland who allegedly pulled a gun on Mr. Bogans. That warrant has never been served. So what is reasonable here?
The jury of 8 white people and 4 black people deliberated for 40 minutes and came out with a verdict of GUILTY on the burglary charges. We don’t know whether Mr. Bogans is to stand trial for the assault charges or not.
No charges were ever brought against Mr. Bogans on the "hay stealing" incident, however the supposed get-away truck is still impounded with mounting storage fees . His mother, Mrs. Willie Mae Bogans has filed a lawsuit against the sheriff, John Bowens and his deputy, Joey Harris (who by the way is the deputy that arrested Mr. Bogans for the burglary charges and the one who Mr. Bogans told that Mr. Copeland had pulled a gun on him), to get their truck back and receive compensation for the economic hardship and expenses caused by not having their truck for 6 months.
I know that this is becoming a long article, but there is more. Mr. Bogans is no dummy, he approached the bench on Tuesday, February 27th, to complain about his defense lawyer, Cannon, not doing a good job at defending him. It seems that Mr. Bogans complaints like the evidence fell on the deaf ears of Judge Bishop.
I talked to Mrs. Bogans after the verdict (see Pictures) and asked her what she thought about the verdict. She said, "I don’t think that they treated him right. They only head 4 black women on the jury. They kicked all the Black men off...They never even called the Black people up to be selected. They called the white people first." At one time there were 6 whites and 6 blacks with two of the blacks being black men. However, they quickly struck the two black men and got two more white people.
I asked her about how she felt about Mr. Bogans' lawyer. She said, "When he first started working on the case, he did real good talking, then it seems that he lost interest in the case." She said that she has other plans to fight the verdict.
I talked with Mr. Bogans over the phone after he was put back in the county jail. He said that they have informed him that he will be moved to another county for sentencing. I questioned this as a standard procedure. I told him to let his mother know if and when that was to happen.
Now let me tell you some other interesting facts about the Bogans’ family. They live on about 2 acres of land outside of Bronwood . They started off in a trailer, but started building on their dream home back in 1976. They did most of the work themselves and paid as they went. They owe nothing on the land or house. Their home is a 4400 square foot split level house seen prominently from the road (see Pictures) . They did this with their own hands, no handouts or giveaways. Now this is how the system repays them.
In the court room the all white private high school in this predominantly black county had 25 seniors sitting in on this case as field study for civics. Mr. Bogans had only 7 people in court to stand with him. I guess the students really learned about justice in Terrell county.
On the other hand I had just attended a rally in Sumter county this same Monday and there were over 400 black people there at a church to show support for Dr. John Marshall (see Pictures), a black doctor that was suspended from the hospital for no apparent reason. At least Dr. Marshall is getting the support and attention due to him. Read his story at Doctor Crucified. I wonder what is the value of Mr. Bogans’ and his family's pain?
If you are interested in finding out what you can do to help, e-mail me at mailto:drridgely@muhammadfarms.com.
Copyright (c) 2001 by Ridgely A. Mu'min