Man accused in Eight Mile Paradise Lounge shooting free on bail

Published: Friday, December 24, 2010, 5:34 AM

MOBILE, Alabama -- While Andy Harvey’s family spends this Christmas mourning his death, the man accused of shooting and beating him to death is free on bail.

Harvey was shot this month outside the Paradise Lounge in the Eight Mile area, where he liked to play pool.

“We had Christmas presents under the tree for him,” said Harvey’s daughter in-law, Tosha Harvey. “He won’t ever get them.”

Jerry Dwayne Bohannon, 48, was released from Mobile County Metro Jail on $250,000 through a bonding company on Dec. 13, two days after police say he gunned down Harvey and Jerry DuBoise, 24, outside Paradise.

Prichard police said that the shooting was captured entirely on a surveillance camera. A family member of one of the victims said that the shooter also beat the men with his handgun until it broke.

Tosha Harvey of Satsuma said that her father-in-law loved his family, which included his wife, five children and seven grandchildren. She said her family’s pain has been worsened by Bohannon’s release from jail.

“It’s just really a tragic situation,” Tosha Harvey said. “I know our constitution says innocent until proven guilty, but it’s on surveillance tape. What more do they need?”

Prichard Police Chief Jimmie Gardner, concerned about Bohannon’s release, said prosecutors had sought a $500,000 bail. They then asked that the lower bail be paid in cash, he said, but District Judge George Hardesty denied the request.

Gardner said, “My responsibility is for the public safety. And I just think the guy is a threat to himself and the public.”

With the help of a bonding company, Bohannon paid no more than $25,000 to be freed with no monitoring, Gardner said.

He said the shooting was recorded “from start to finish,” but he declined to describe the events because of the ongoing investigation.

Defense lawyer Bob Clark said that Bohannon maintains his innocence and that evidence is still being gathered. “He has a right — a constitutional right — to bail,” Clark said.

According to the bartender that night, DuBoise and Harvey started playing pool about 2 a.m., mostly keeping to themselves. Harvey might have had one drink, the bartender said, but he didn’t finish it. DuBoise drank nothing but Coke.

Bohannon, who had been in and out of the bar since midnight, consumed a number of beers, according to the bartender.

Bohannon is scheduled to appear in Mobile County District Court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 27.

(Staff reporter David Ferrara contributed to this report.)

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Charge dismissed against man accused of leaving scene of girlfriend's fatal accident

Published: Tuesday, November 23, 2010, 5:45 AM

A Baldwin Circuit judge last week dismissed a?charge against a man accused of leaving the scene of an accident which killed his girlfriend last year.

Alfred Lee Banks pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in the August 2009 incident.

Lisa Taylor of Spanish Fort died after being struck by a passing car on Stagecoach Road. According to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, Banks, Taylor and Taylor’s son were driving back to their home off Stagecoach Road when the couple began to argue and Taylor exited Banks’ truck while it was still moving. The boy got out immediately after his mother and Banks drove away. Taylor was then stuck and killed by a sedan.

In its case, the state argued that the 54-year-old Banks, who now lives in Daphne, knew Taylor was injured when she exited the truck and he was bound by law to stop and help, according to Assistant District Attorney Brant Richerson.

"The state presented evidence in the trial, including eyewitness testimony" that supported both counts of the indictment, Richerson said Monday in an e-mail. "If Mr. Banks had stopped to render aid, he could have prevented Ms. Taylor’s death."

Defense attorney Pascal Bruijn said the testimony of Taylor’s son changed at trial, indicating that Banks ran over Taylor. Following the accident, the boy told investigators he believed the truck hit his mother. But in an audio recording of an interview by an investigator with the Sheriff’s Office, Bruijn said the boy indicated that Banks had no knowledge that Taylor was injured when he left the scene.

After the state’s evidence, Bruijn said he asked Judge Charles Partin for the dismissal on the basis that his client was not required to stop and render assistance because he was unaware Taylor had been injured.

"We didn’t even put on a defense," he said.

Richerson said the victim’s son testified to what he remembered happening. "It is the state’s position that it should have been obvious to Alfred Banks that Ms. Taylor was injured when she exited a moving vehicle that he was driving."

On the DUI charge, Banks received the maximum 12-month sentence along with a fine of $2,100 and court costs and fees, according to his attorney. He received credit for the 14 months he served awaiting trial, Bruijn said.

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Wilmer man accused of sexual abuse of miniature horse

Published: Wednesday, November 03, 2010, 8:40 PM ??? Updated: Wednesday, November 03, 2010, 8:40 PM

A 27-year-old Wilmer man was charged Tuesday with cruelty to an animal after Mobile County sheriff’s deputies said he sexually abused a miniature horse in Wilmer last weekend.

Eric Steven Easley was also charged with killing or disabling livestock, which spokeswoman Lori Myles said is a felony.

She added that those two charges were filed against Easley because Alabama has no specific provision in its sexual abuse laws to cover bestiality.

Easley was charged and taken to Mobile County Metro Jail about 7 p.m. Tuesday and was released on bail totaling $4,000 about two hours later, jail records showed.

Myles said deputies were first called Saturday afternoon to a residence on Wilmer Road that serves as a breeding facility for the miniature horses.

She said the owner of the female horse noticed the animal was acting strangely. Myles said the owner and deputies found tail hair tied to a post, indicating someone had tried to tie the tail to the post.

According to Myles, deputies and a veterinarian discovered blood and other evidence that indicated the horse had been sexually abused.

Myles said the owner found a wallet containing Easley’s identification, including a driver’s license and Social Security card, near the horse. Easley was questioned Sunday at the department’s North station and was charged Tuesday afternoon, Myles said.

Easley gave jail officials an address on Saturn Drive, which is about two miles north of where the horse was kept.

Easley was scheduled to appear this morning in Mobile County District Court, according to jail records.

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Jury gets Michael Woolf case; defendant accused of shooting wife, 2-year-old son

Published: Monday, November 01, 2010, 7:00 PM

MOBILE, Ala. -- Michael Woolf wouldn’t believe his wife’s assurances or a paternity test showing that their toddler was his biological son — thoughts that grew into an obsession, a prosecutor said Monday.

“And so he took care of the situation,” said Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphree.

Woolf’s wife and son — Angel and Ayden Woolf — were found shot to death inside their trailer home off Schillinger Road just after midnight, March 5, 2008.

Michael Woolf called 911 to report the shootings, even telling a dispatcher that he’d just killed his family and needed to go to jail, according to testimony.

On Monday, a jury began deliberating capital murder charges against Woolf after more than five days of testimony. After 2? hours, the jury decided to stop and continue again today.

Prosecutors said Woolf questioned whether the boy was his own after learning of his wife’s extramarital affairs, and the boy became an extension of his wife’s betrayal.

Woolf testified in his own defense that he accidentally shot his son during a fight with his wife, then fired a shot at her. The defense has argued he killed his wife in a heat of passion crime, which would constitute the lesser charge of manslaughter.

In closing arguments, defense attorney Greg Evans said Woolf never intended to kill his family — and he argued that the prosecution did not prove otherwise.

“The only person that knows what went on there that night is Michael, and he told you from the witness stand what happened,” Evans said.

Woolf showed little emotion while testifying last week that he was fighting with his wife when he fired a shot behind him to scare her. He said he heard his wife scream, turned around, and saw his young son was struck.

Woolf did not explain on the witness stand why he turned back to his wife and fired a shot at her.

Evans pointed to a psychologist’s testimony that Woolf has an “extremely low IQ,” bipolar disorder and a history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and substance abuse.

He said the defense has brought the “unvarnished truth” in the case, including that despite his problems, Woolf still understood the difference between right and wrong. The defense withdrew a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or mental defect before the jury heard closing arguments.

Murphree told jurors that Woolf is a “self-centered misogynist” with “a very easy temper to trigger.”

“Did he kill Angel first?” she said. “Did he kill Ayden first? Did Angel have to have those few horrible moments of seeing her son shot? Or did Ayden have to see mama be shot?”

Murphree said while it can difficult to believe that a parent would kill his own child, that’s what happened at the Woolf home that night.

“Sometimes the boogie man is not just the shadowy figure across the street,” Murphree said. “Sometimes the boogie man is your own dad.”

The trial is being held in Mobile County Circuit Joseph Johnston’s courtroom.

If the jury finds Woolf guilty of capital murder, the panel would then have to recommend life in prison without parole or the death penalty as punishment.?

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