Judge Compares Gangs to Cockroaches, Sets Million Dollar Bond
A murder suspect and the gangs he's accused of being affiliated with get a verbal lashing from a Hamilton County judge, who unloaded a war of words and then set a million dollar bond.
"These gangs are a menace to society, they're a menace to our community and we need to stomp 'em," General Sessions Court Judge David Bales says. "It's just like a cockroach: we need to stomp 'em hard and every time they pop their head up, we need to stomp on 'em and put 'em into the ground."
Bales bound over charges of first degree murder, reckless endangerment, and unlawful possession of a weapon against Montez Davis.
Davis is accused of shooting an innocent bystander Jonathan Lawrence, who was pumping gas at the Kanku's on Tunnel Boulevard back in January. During testimony Tuesday, Detective Adam Emery said that Davis admitted he had a gun and fired shots that day.
Emery testified that someone threw a bottle at Davis' car, and Davis told police he was sick of being picked on, so moments later, he opened fire. Lawrence was caught in the middle.
Bales calls the killing "sensless."
"Mr. Jonathan Lawrence, for whatever reason, was out there trying to pump gas innocently for other people, to try to make a little money and now he's dead. A 42-year-old man is dead because Mr. Davis here is out here with a 40 caliber gun just shooting into a crowd," Bales says angrily.
Davis' attorney says there is no evidence this was a premeditated killing, adding that the surveillance video on site did not capture the shooter on camera.
Bales' comments drew fire from the suspect's mother, who accuses the judge of grandstanding.
"If the news people hadn't been there, it probably would've been a different story, but that's how they do," Kaliqua Johnson says. "They wait til it get to the news situation before they want to do something."
Johnson says she has filed numerous reports over the past couple of years to try to protect her son from the people bullying him, but claims the police department failed to protect him.
"None of them boys been picked up. None of 'em. Not even the boy that threw the bottle," Johnson says. "This wouldn'tve escalated as far as it did if when I went to the police department for help they would've helped me."
