After not guilty verdict, defendant who lost a lot during years in jail must ‘start all over’

Despite a jury’s acquitting him on all charges in Robert Earl Bolden’s Nov. 5, 2014 fatal shooting in Columbus’ Oakland Park area, Gary Lee Jones Jr. would not be released immediately from the Muscogee County Jail, his attorney said Friday.

That’s because Jones was charged with fresh offenses during the years he was held in jail awaiting trial, said defense attorney Michael Eddings.

“From what I understand, he was charged with some type of robbery, maybe a fellow inmate probably said that someone took something, so it’s something that happened in the jail,” Eddings said.

Jail workers said records showed Jones had pending charges of robbery and theft.

Jones is not guilty of those offenses, either, Eddings said: “I was told from an unofficial source that the person who actually did this had admitted to it and is taking the charges for these things, and that it should clear his name.”

Eddings said he hoped to get Jones out on bond, or the charges dismissed.

Jones, 25, said during his trial testimony that he was arrested for Bolden’s homicide on Jan. 18, 2015, and had been unable to bond out.

Eddings said the prolonged detention wrecked Jones’ life:

“He had a good, stable job. He had a loving family — a very supportive family; you saw his family in court the whole time that he was here. He had a girlfriend at the time. That relationship has dissolved, since he’s been in jail. There’s been a lot of impact, loss of family love, and loss of his income, so he’s going to have to start all over again.”

After three days of testimony, the jury deliberated about three hours Friday before announcing it had a verdict at 1:15 p.m.

It found Jones not guilty of five charges: malice or deliberate murder, felony murder for allegedly killing Bolden while committing the felony of aggravated assault, aggravated assault, armed robbery and using a gun to commit a crime.

Jones was accused of killing Bolden during a botched robbery involving a marijuana deal. “This is an armed robbery that went south because Mr. Bolden resisted,” Senior Assistant District Attorney Don Kelly told jurors in his closing argument Thursday.

Police believe Bolden had a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol, which was found where he collapsed on Hawthorne Drive after the shooting. Because its chamber was empty, investigators believe Bolden never fired the gun that day.

Jones blamed Bolden’s shooting on his cousin, Adrian Devon Patterson.

Patterson still faces charges in Bolden’s slaying, but his case was severed, so he was not on trial with Jones. No trial date for his case has been set.

Eddings in his closing argument emphasized witnesses’ testimony that the man they saw that day was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt. A security camera at a Ramsey Road residence recorded Patterson wearing a gray hoodie as he ran away.

Jones testified he was wearing black jeans, a black thermal shirt and a bright blue Carolina Panthers knit cap.

“The evidence was overwhelming that somebody else was involved in this shooting that was not Gary Jones,” Eddings said after the verdict. “In spite of that overwhelming evidence, it seems like the prosecution and law enforcement wanted to place this particular crime on Gary Jones, although the evidence suggested heavily that it wasn’t Gary Jones, that it was somebody else.”

No witness testified to having seen Jones with a gun the day Bolden died, but another cousin said he saw Patterson with a small, silver revolver. Police never found the gun used in the crime.

Jones testified he and Patterson, both from Cusseta, Ga., left there for Columbus that morning in Patterson’s white Geo Prism. Patterson wanted to buy marijuana here, and Jones needed a ride to Columbus to meet his then-girlfriend and her sister for a family outing.

At the Botany Arms apartments on Farr Road in Columbus, they met Antonio Benefield, who agreed to drive Patterson’s white Geo Prism to Oakland Park to meet Bolden, as the two cousins were unfamiliar with the area, Jones said.

Bolden caught a ride to Oakland Park with Frank Smith, his godbrother, who was driving a blue Honda CRV. Smith said he parked at the Riverwind Apartments on Riverland Avenue, where Bolden got out to talk to a man in a gray hooded sweatshirt.

Smith said he was sitting in the driver’s seat when he heard the stranger say, “Give me all you got!” The two men struggled, and he heard three shots before Bolden ran up Hawthorne Drive and the man in the hoodie ran toward Ramsey Road, Smith testified.

Ramsey Road residents reported seeing fleeing suspects jumping fences as they ran through yards. Witnesses described one as heavyset and the other as thin and fit.

Jones and Patterson were running to catch up with Benefield, who had driven off in the Prism as Smith followed it in the Honda.

The Ramsey Road security camera recorded the passing vehicles, followed by Patterson running after the Prism. Kelly told jurors Jones, who was in better shape, got to the Prism first while Patterson, who was overweight with a knee injury, lagged behind.

Smith soon broke off the pursuit to go look for Bolden, whom he found lying on Hawthorne Drive. Bolden died later at the hospital, on his 44th birthday. The fatal shot sent a bullet right-to-left through the middle of his torso, his autopsy found.

Investigators found a .32-caliber bullet lodged in the Honda’s sun roof.

Jones testified Thursday that when he, Patterson and Benefield got to Oakland Park, Benefield backed the Prism into a parking space on Riverland Avenue, just down the street from Riverwind Apartments.

Jones said Patterson got out and walked up the avenue to meet the marijuana dealer, and Benefield stayed in the driver’s seat. Jones, who was in the back, became impatient and got out to walk around, talking on his cell phone with the women he was to meet, he said. They were to take some children to Chuck E. Cheese, and Patterson’s side trip had made him late, he said.

He testified that as he walked up the street, he saw Patterson meet someone in a blue Honda CRV. Patterson got into the car with the man, and then they got back out, and a struggle ensued, followed by gunfire, Jones said.

He saw Benefield drive away, and ran to catch up with the Prism, he said. He reached it first, and he and Benefield picked up Patterson before they left Oakland Park for the Fort Benning Road area, where he got out and called for a ride, he said.

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 5:25 PM with the headline "After not guilty verdict, defendant who lost a lot during years in jail must ‘start all over’."