Grant posts bond, waives hearing

May 23, 2008

Grant posts bond, waives hearing- NOLA.com

Saints player says ‘truth will come out’
Friday, May 23, 2008
By Jimmy Smith

BLAKELY, GA. — Wearing a crisply starched blue dress shirt, Navy blue pinstriped slacks and a blue, gold and rust colored striped tie, Saints defensive end Charles Grant turned himself in at the Early County Jail on involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from a February fight outside a bar that left a pregnant woman dead.

Grant rode up to the jail in a white Lincoln Navigator driven by Bryant Keith Gantt, a former Georgia football player who now works with Grant’s Athens, Ga.-based attorney, Edward D. Tolley, along with Tolley, Blakely attorney William S. Stone and several friends.

The group parked in front of the jail at 12:16 p.m. CDT. Grant went in, was processed, booked, photographed and fingerprinted before entering a plea of innocent, posting $10,000 bond and waiving his first hearing that could have been held before a judge Thursday afternoon.
Grant left the jail at 1:46 p.m. from a side entrance to
avoid a group of the victim’s friends and relatives
that had gathered across the street. He returned to
Stone’s downtown office.

“This is a small town,” Grant said later,
“and the most important thing in this situation is an
innocent lady lost her life to a situation that only could
have been resolved if we wouldn’t have been there.

“But in the end, the truth was told, and you’ve
really got to figure the truth out. That’s what
I’ve got my lawyers for. When people gave their
statements, they told the truth, and I guess people thought
otherwise.”

Grant and six other men, including several of his
friends, were indicted by an Early County grand jury earlier
this week in connection with the fracas the morning of Feb.
3 outside Pokey’s, a North Church Street tavern in
which Korynda “Possum” Reed, 23, who was pregnant,
was shot and killed.

Grant was stabbed in the back of the neck during the
fight, which apparently began inside the club but spilled
out onto the street.

Grant, who is from nearby Colquitt and attended the
University of Georgia, said Thursday he knew the victim
because she had once dated one of his cousins.

It took Early County investigators and the district
attorney’s office more than three months to conclude
that Grant, and others, should be charged.

The district attorney’s office has declined to
comment on the indictments or other facets of the case.

Laquient Macklin, a childhood friend of Grant’s who
in one report had been referred to as Grant’s
bodyguard, was indicted on felony murder charges and Grant
and five others on involuntary manslaughter charges.
Macklin, the attorneys said Thursday, at the time was
employed by the State of Georgia Department of Corrections
in the Hall County prison system and was not Grant’s
bodyguard

In the original police report on the incident obtained
Thursday, investigating officer Jennifer Hunt wrote that one
witness stated “Charles Grant shot ‘Possum,’
aka Ms. Reed, and she was dead. . . . Several people in the
crowd were yelling that Charles Grant did the
shooting.”

Grant said Thursday that his status and stature made him
an early and inviting suspect among the crowd.

“If you were here and you were me, they would have
pointed the finger at you because of what you do and what
you stand for,” Grant said. “Like I tell anybody:
I’m a warrior. And out of this whole situation, the
only thing I regret is a young woman lost her life and her
family has to deal with that. My sympathies go out to that
family.

“Right now, me and my lawyers are focused on getting
the truth out to the people and letting them know,
‘Hey, Charles is not that kind of guy.’ And the
truth will come out in the end. That’s the only thing
I’m hoping for, and I’m steadily praying for her
and her family and the people that have to go through that
situation.”

Tolley said Thursday that the case had been assigned to
Early County Superior Court Judge Ronnie Joe Lane and that
Lane would set the schedule for future court dates and
appearances.

“Charles has been booked in on a charge of
involuntary manslaughter,” Tolley said. “We have
posted his bond, which was $10,000. We have waived the first
hearing, which would have been this afternoon. And
we’re going home in just a few minutes. We’ve
entered a plea of not guilty and signed all the necessary
forms.”

Tolley said no restrictions were placed on Grant’s
ability to travel back to New Orleans, where he will
continue to take part in the Saints’ offseason training
activities.

Saints Coach Sean Payton and an NFL spokesman said
Wednesday that the team and league are monitoring the
situation.

“We’re disappointed,” Tolley said.
“Charles has been cooperative with the sheriff’s
department the entire time. If you look at the indictment,
it’s interesting because they indicted everybody on
both sides of the fence. So I’ve never seen one quite
like that. I’m not being critical of it; it is what it
is.”

. . . . . . .

Jimmy Smith can be reached at jsmith@timespicayune.com or
(504) 826-3814.

Written by tsg255 · Filed Under New Orleans Saints News

Comments

Got something to say?