The city that the event took place in was Marietta, GA.
One of my extended family members was working at a job of 4+ years. No complaints against him by anyone at the company. He came in one day in a bad mood and should have just gone home. He had a new manager that had been there for like a year and was harassing him, switching his routes around (he was a delivery driver for a tire company), giving him more work than others and that sort of thing. He said the manager was messing with his hours and not paying for overtime worked, as well. This family member came in one day and ranted at his job in the warehouse, then went out using the company truck to do deliveries and continued about his day. His manager came in later and called HR, who instructed to fire him. The manager called him up on the phone, told him that he was fired and to bring the truck back. He drove back to the workplace and police were there. The coworkers say that he stated he would "get a gun and shoot them all and shoot police if they came"...the family member states that he said he would shoot his manager in the butt with a paintball gun (he's a big paintball fan and doesn't own a firearm). He wouldn't comply with police verbal commands (they didn't identify themselves or why they were there and the cop testified this in court during the hearing when the family member's defense lawyer asked the cop on the stand) and they were about to taser him when he basically gave up. Didn't struggle with them, but they apparently threw him on the ground and hurt his shoulder in the process of handcuffing him. He spent about a month in jail already and we got him out on bail back in December 2018. The judge didn't want to set bond, but his defense lawyer argued that for such a charge the lawyer had never had a judge deny bond. Bond was set at $15,000, so it was $1,500 to get him out. He fulfilled the requirements to take anger management classes and has also paid for all of his drug tests and done well with all terms. He had a protective order to stay away from the former boss and of course never went back to the workplace. He simply had a bad day and reacted in a bad way.
The charges were felony terroristic threats and acts (apparently because of words only and coworkers claim he said he would shoot them with a real gun) and obstruction of an officer (for not complying with verbal commands of the officers, but not resisting arrest). In the hearing, the cop testified that coworkers had never filed a complaint against him, yet claimed he was "volatile" to work with. 4+ years with the company and excellent work history. The coworkers gave statements to police to "not underestimate his strength because he lifts tires all day" and described him as a "gorilla man with gorilla-like strength" in their statements. The judge during the hearing found that to be very odd as he was sitting right in front of her. That's going to be very interesting at the trial. He's about 5'10, not in very good shape and not in any way fitting of what they have said about him.
Family member does have a history. He's about 59 years old now. He had a felony murder charge from when he was 17 or 18. Killed an old guy when he was high on drugs, basically. My understanding is that something was done a number of years ago to pardon that somehow so that it shouldn't show up in his record and/or be used against him. He also had his firearm rights restored a long time ago, but hasn't exercised them. He did 14 years in prison for the murder charge, got out in his 30's and has lived a productive life since. Not to pardon what he did by any means, but compared to a lot of people, he didn't get back in.
What is he looking at in regards to a potential sentence? Will he face prison time? I know that can vary based on the judge and such. Just curious from a legal standpoint.
His defense lawyer is extremely well-known as an independent defense lawyer with decades of experience and very good. Family member opted for a public defender and that's who he got. We have pretty high confidence in the lawyer and have seen how well he has handled things already.
One of my extended family members was working at a job of 4+ years. No complaints against him by anyone at the company. He came in one day in a bad mood and should have just gone home. He had a new manager that had been there for like a year and was harassing him, switching his routes around (he was a delivery driver for a tire company), giving him more work than others and that sort of thing. He said the manager was messing with his hours and not paying for overtime worked, as well. This family member came in one day and ranted at his job in the warehouse, then went out using the company truck to do deliveries and continued about his day. His manager came in later and called HR, who instructed to fire him. The manager called him up on the phone, told him that he was fired and to bring the truck back. He drove back to the workplace and police were there. The coworkers say that he stated he would "get a gun and shoot them all and shoot police if they came"...the family member states that he said he would shoot his manager in the butt with a paintball gun (he's a big paintball fan and doesn't own a firearm). He wouldn't comply with police verbal commands (they didn't identify themselves or why they were there and the cop testified this in court during the hearing when the family member's defense lawyer asked the cop on the stand) and they were about to taser him when he basically gave up. Didn't struggle with them, but they apparently threw him on the ground and hurt his shoulder in the process of handcuffing him. He spent about a month in jail already and we got him out on bail back in December 2018. The judge didn't want to set bond, but his defense lawyer argued that for such a charge the lawyer had never had a judge deny bond. Bond was set at $15,000, so it was $1,500 to get him out. He fulfilled the requirements to take anger management classes and has also paid for all of his drug tests and done well with all terms. He had a protective order to stay away from the former boss and of course never went back to the workplace. He simply had a bad day and reacted in a bad way.
The charges were felony terroristic threats and acts (apparently because of words only and coworkers claim he said he would shoot them with a real gun) and obstruction of an officer (for not complying with verbal commands of the officers, but not resisting arrest). In the hearing, the cop testified that coworkers had never filed a complaint against him, yet claimed he was "volatile" to work with. 4+ years with the company and excellent work history. The coworkers gave statements to police to "not underestimate his strength because he lifts tires all day" and described him as a "gorilla man with gorilla-like strength" in their statements. The judge during the hearing found that to be very odd as he was sitting right in front of her. That's going to be very interesting at the trial. He's about 5'10, not in very good shape and not in any way fitting of what they have said about him.
Family member does have a history. He's about 59 years old now. He had a felony murder charge from when he was 17 or 18. Killed an old guy when he was high on drugs, basically. My understanding is that something was done a number of years ago to pardon that somehow so that it shouldn't show up in his record and/or be used against him. He also had his firearm rights restored a long time ago, but hasn't exercised them. He did 14 years in prison for the murder charge, got out in his 30's and has lived a productive life since. Not to pardon what he did by any means, but compared to a lot of people, he didn't get back in.
What is he looking at in regards to a potential sentence? Will he face prison time? I know that can vary based on the judge and such. Just curious from a legal standpoint.
His defense lawyer is extremely well-known as an independent defense lawyer with decades of experience and very good. Family member opted for a public defender and that's who he got. We have pretty high confidence in the lawyer and have seen how well he has handled things already.
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