Jackson murder trial to start

Published 3:37 pm Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Almost two years to the day after Adams County resident Marshall “Mark” Brown was discovered dead in his RV, the trial of a man accused of his murder is scheduled to start today.

Larry F. Jackson Jr., 101-A Rushing St., was charged in November with Brown’s death.

Two others were charged in connection with Brown’s death, but only Jackson will stand trial today.

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Brown’s mother, Catherine Hibbs of Vidalia, said she was glad to see the case come to trial.

“It’s just that everybody in the family wants justice for Mark,” Hibbs said. “If they did that to Mark, we want them punished. But you have to leave it up to the jury and God. The man upstairs will take care of it.”

Hibbs said she was proud of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office for not giving up on the case.

“They did not forget about him,” she said.

Adams County Sheriff Ronny Brown said his office was prepared for the legal proceedings ahead.

“We’re ready to go to trial,” Brown said. “We think we’ve got enough evidence for a conviction, or we wouldn’t have tried to go to trial on it.”

Brown said he, too, was glad to see the case go to trial, “for us and for the family. Justice needs to be served, and all we’ve got is that court.”

District Attorney Ronnie Harper said he, too, was ready for the trial.

“We’re very confident in the evidence we have,” Harper said. “The sheriff’s department has worked hard on this case. It was a difficult case to investigate, and they worked very hard on it.”

Harper said he probably wouldn’t call a large number of witnesses, but he had enough lined up to cover all the bases should something come up.

“Our basic case is not going to involve an inordinate amount of witnesses,” he said.

That means a possibly shorter case, he said.

Circuit Judge Forrest “Al” Johnson, presiding over the case, said Monday he thought the trial might last two or three days.

Jackson’s attorney, Bradley Hayes, filed a motion for a change of venue, Johnson said. A change of venue would mean the trial would be tried in another geographical area.

“I reserve ruling on that until the jurors are questioned as to whether or not we can obtain a fair trial,” Johnson said.

Hayes could not be reached for comment Monday.