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Murder indictment thrown out for 2015 Telfair County Craigslist killer
TELFAIR COUNTY, Ga. -- The Supreme Court of Georgia has ruled against the State and upheld a Telfair County court’s dismissal of the murder indictment against Ronnie Adrian Towns for the 2015 murders of Elrey "Bud" and June Runion.
Towns was charged with luring the elderly Marietta couple to rural Telfair County under the pretense of selling them a 1966 Mustang that Towns had advertised on Craigslist. The State announced it would seek the death penalty.
The issue: whether all the grand jurors who indicted Towns were randomly chosen.
The State argued they were but the trial court disagreed. Justice Keith R. Blackwell wrote they also believe the jury selection was not random.
In Monday's majority 7-2 opinion, the high court has upheld the lower court’s ruling, finding that “the trial court did not err when it dismissed the indictment as a remedy for the violation of the randomness requirement that occurred in this case.”
According to the record, following Towns’s arrest, the Telfair County Superior Court summoned 50 people for possible service on the grand jury, but fewer than 16 reported. Under Georgia Code 15-12-61 (a), empaneling a grand jury requires a minimum of 16 persons and no more than 23. The trial judge subsequently directed the sheriff to attempt to locate those who failed to appear. The judge also ordered the clerk of the court to supplement the number of prospective grand jurors with persons who had been summoned to appear for service as trial jurors. Under Georgia Code 15-12-66.1, when there is an insufficient number of persons available to empanel a grand jury, “the presiding judge shall order the clerk to choose at random from the names of persons summoned as trial jurors a sufficient number of prospective grand jurors necessary to complete the grand jury.”
“Dismissal of an indictment is an extreme sanction, ‘used only sparingly as [a remedy] for unlawful government conduct,’” the dissent says. “Accordingly, I would reverse the trial court’s order quashing the indictment,” writes Justice Michael P. Boggs.
This is a developing story, stick with WGXA for updates.
TELFAIR COUNTY, Ga. -- The Supreme Court of Georgia has ruled against the State and upheld a Telfair County court’s dismissal of the murder indictment against Ronnie Adrian Towns for the 2015 murders of Elrey "Bud" and June Runion.
Towns was charged with luring the elderly Marietta couple to rural Telfair County under the pretense of selling them a 1966 Mustang that Towns had advertised on Craigslist. The State announced it would seek the death penalty.
The issue: whether all the grand jurors who indicted Towns were randomly chosen.
The State argued they were but the trial court disagreed. Justice Keith R. Blackwell wrote they also believe the jury selection was not random.
In Monday's majority 7-2 opinion, the high court has upheld the lower court’s ruling, finding that “the trial court did not err when it dismissed the indictment as a remedy for the violation of the randomness requirement that occurred in this case.”
According to the record, following Towns’s arrest, the Telfair County Superior Court summoned 50 people for possible service on the grand jury, but fewer than 16 reported. Under Georgia Code 15-12-61 (a), empaneling a grand jury requires a minimum of 16 persons and no more than 23. The trial judge subsequently directed the sheriff to attempt to locate those who failed to appear. The judge also ordered the clerk of the court to supplement the number of prospective grand jurors with persons who had been summoned to appear for service as trial jurors. Under Georgia Code 15-12-66.1, when there is an insufficient number of persons available to empanel a grand jury, “the presiding judge shall order the clerk to choose at random from the names of persons summoned as trial jurors a sufficient number of prospective grand jurors necessary to complete the grand jury.”
“Dismissal of an indictment is an extreme sanction, ‘used only sparingly as [a remedy] for unlawful government conduct,’” the dissent says. “Accordingly, I would reverse the trial court’s order quashing the indictment,” writes Justice Michael P. Boggs.
This is a developing story, stick with WGXA for updates.
