Second-degree murder charges against four Tchula men were dropped on Wednesday by Tchula Municipal Court Judge Wesley Evans.
According to a WJTV-12 report, Evans said, “I just don’t think this case even rises with probable cause.”
Kamechie Coffer, 18; Aavon Coffer, 20; Devonte Pepper, 17; and Kajarius Anderson, 18, had been arrested in recent weeks and charged as participants in the death of double amputee Clarence Blue, 44, on May 19.
A Mississippi State Crime Lab autopsy showed Blue died of a heart attack, but Tchula Police Chief Kenneth Hampton, who has vigorously pursued murder charges, dismissed the autopsy findings as irrelevant and continued to pursue a fifth suspect online and on the ground, despite the report.
Hampton took to Facebook to register his contempt for the court’s decision:
“Holmes County where the 1st MURDER’S FREE. That’s a saying that someone said to me when I was going through the Police Academy. Today the 4 young men I arrested for the 2nd degree murder of Clarence Blue were set free due to lack of evidence and because the autopsy repost said he died of a Hart Attact. I guess Clarence Blue’s BLOOD SOAKED JEANS, BLOOD SOAKED T-SHIRT, BLOODY WHEEL CHAIR, A 3-FOOT PUDDLE OF BLOOD WITH LINE OF BLOOD FROM HIS CAR. Oooooh and let’s not even mention the video confessions. Not only that a law man (not from Tchula Police Dept.) took the stand and flat out LIED his ass off about Mr. Blues last words. Hmmmm something not right in the water here and I call bulls*** on this one! And I got another Message for you 5 YOUR FIRST MURDER MIGHT BE FREE IN HOLMES COUNTY, BUT THIS IS TCHULA B%&#^#@!!!!!!”
Charges were dismissed without prejudice, which means the matter can continue to be investigated and litigated.
“Of course I’m going to continue,” Hampton said. “I still have evidence to present to the crime lab, and I will continue the investigation.”
Defense attorney Dennis Sweet presented a doctor’s statement in court claiming that Blue told him no one did anything to him and that the blood came from a cut on his head sustained when he fell.
“I challenge him to bring that person to court and say that in front of everybody,” Hampton said. “I dare him.”
Hampton said he told the court he had a videotaped confession from at least one of the suspects revealing details only someone involved in the crime could possibly know.
Hampton said he presented in court extensive evidence gathered at the scene, as well as testimony from the victim’s mother, Essie Blue of Tchula, who was not in court.
“I would never in a million years have thought she needed to be there,” he said. “Next time she will be.”
Essie Blue, also an amputee, told the Commonwealth last week that she held her bleeding son in her arms and traced the bruises along his body with her fingers. She said her son knew his attackers. She said she belieed her son was beaten in an attempted robbery and said those who beat him “know I’m not afraid of them.”
Hampton was still actively pursuing his fifth suspect as of Tuesday and using Facebook to communicate publicly, a strategy he has enployed since his investigation first began.
A telephone recording with the fifth suspect’s mother was played on the Tchula Police Department Facebook page to indicate her collusion in hiding him from the law. Hampton filed an affidavit earlier in the week, accusing the suspect’s mother of criminal assistance and knowingly harboring and concealing her son.
Last week he said that any possibility of the release of the four arrested suspects represented a danger to the community.
Hampton said the same five suspects were charged earlier this year with breaking and entering in a home invasion case involving an 87-year old Tchula man. Those cases are still pending.
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
