A motion to quash indictments against three Calhoun men in a sexual assault case from 2014 is now in the realm of the Georgia State Supreme Court, according to District Attorney Alison Sosebee of the Appalachian Judicial Circuit.
The State Court of Appeals recently denied the motion by attorneys for Fields Benjamin Chapman, Andrew Isaac Haynes and Damon Avery Johnson in the highly-publicized case where authorities said the alleged assaults occurred during an alcohol-fueled, post-prom party held primarily by Calhoun High School students in Gilmer County. The three defendants — all age 18 at the time — are charged with several counts of sexual battery, sodomy and public indecency. Chapman was additionally charged with transmitting digital images.
Steve Williams, a Dalton attorney representing Haynes, noted defense lawyers “filed a number of motions, one of which was to have the indictments dismissed because it was not returned by the grand jury into open court.”
“Because if it’s not open court, the indictments were not returned properly and they would be thrown out. There was a video in the courthouse in the courtroom to show what happened or didn’t happen,” he said of the defense procuring the video of the trial court’s action on Aug. 4, 2014. “A senior judge came up from below Atlanta to hear that … (and) we said, number one, the indictment was returned after normal courthouse hours, the door had been locked. There’s a statute that requires (that) any time court is in session, there must be a sheriff’s deputy there and there was no sheriff’s deputy. The courthouse security plan requires that before any spectator or member of the public comes into any courtroom for court, that the sheriff’s office must do a sweep of the courtroom for security purposes … and there was no sweep and no (deputy) present.
“The judge had been in Fannin County that day, he shows up (almost) after 5 o’clock, so we’re saying that that wasn’t really open court. The judge that heard it decided that was good enough, so he denied our motions. So we appealed that, and the Georgia Court of Appeals finally issued a decision about three weeks ago or so affirming the judge. So now we have appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, and are asking (them) to look at it. So that’s where it sits right now — they denied the appeal about three weeks ago.”
Assistant District Attorney Steve Spencer argued during the hearing about the closed-court allegation that the courtroom was open, and nobody blocked members of the public from entering, according to a Nov. 28, 2018, story in the Times-Courier. After watching the video and hearing the statements of court officers, visiting Judge Albert Collier ruled against the motion, allowing the case to move forward and not have to be taken back to a grand jury.
District Attorney Alison Sosebee noted the Court of Appeals “affirmed the trial court’s decision.”
“Last week, I received a writ of certiorari from the Georgia Supreme Court from the defense,” she said. The writ of certiorari from a higher court requests the record of the case from a lower court.
Williams was asked to speculate on the next step now that the writ has been submitted.
“The Court of Appeals had it until June or July last year,” he said. “Now we’re just waiting to see what the Supreme Court does. Basically, what this (writ) is doing is we’re asking the Supreme Court to hear it. They can decide to hear the appeal and then decide it, or they can decide not to hear the appeal.”
Williams said if the high court decides not to look at the technical motion to quash, it goes back to Gilmer County Superior Court. He pointed out by the time a decision is made, it will likely be a full six years since the alleged incident.
“We’re hopeful the high court will review the appeal,” he said. “The kids involved in the case as witnesses are scattered to the winds, and gone to college or finished with college.”
He added the main witness in the case is now working as a certified public accountant.
Opinions are published on an average of twice a month, according to the Georgia Supreme Court website. A case number given by Williams is not found on the court’s “forthcoming opinion announcement” list made available last Friday.
“Court personnel are not able to disclose information to anyone about these decisions. We would appreciate that you refrain from contacting anyone here prior to publication,” the website states.
Attorneys for Chapman and Johnson did not immediately return phone calls.
Following Supreme Court
The motion to quash the indictments against the three Calhoun defendants in the 2014 alleged sexual assault case that was denied by the Georgia Court of Appeals is now at the state Supreme Court level. The decision on whether or not to hear the appeal, case No. S20C0876, can be be followed on the Supreme Court website, www.gasupreme.us/, under the Opinions link.
Georgia Appeal Court decision
(Excerpted from the Feb. 12, 2020, decision)
“A Gilmer County grand jury indicted Fields Benjamin Chapman, Andrew Haynes and Damon Avery Johnson (‘the Appellants’) with several counts of aggravated sexual battery, aggravated battery, sexual battery, sodomy and public indecency. The Appellants filed motions to quash the indictment and pleas in abatement, arguing that the indictment was not returned in open court. The trial court denied the motions … (and) we affirm the trial court’s denial of the motions.
“The record shows that on Aug. 4, 2014, the trial court judge was called to the Gilmer County Courthouse to receive indictments from the grand jury. The grand jury bailiff unlocked the public access door to Courtroom A at 4:56 p.m. Prior to that time, Courtroom A was locked because no proceedings were scheduled that day for the courtroom. The judge, grand jury bailiff, clerk of court and district attorney then convened in the courtroom.
“The bailiff returned several indictments to the judge, including the indictment at issue in this case. The four officials finished around 5:30 p.m. and the bailiff re-locked the courtroom. On the date the indictment was returned, a security log for the courthouse reflected that, at 5 p.m., the courthouse was ‘closed for business, remaining open for grand jury indictments.’ At 5:30 p.m., the log reflected ‘[c]ourthouse closed.’ The Appellants filed pleas in abatement and motions to quash the indictment, arguing that the indictment was not returned in open court. The trial court held a hearing on the issue.
“At the hearing, the court reviewed video of various portions of the courthouse, still photographs from various courthouse cameras, the courthouse security log for the day the indictment was returned and various other dates, and testimony from several court personnel, including the clerk of court, sheriff and the sheriff’s deputy in charge of court security.”
Source: gaappeals.us