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Staff Photo by Laura-Chase McGehee/Chattanooga Times Free Press/ Sep 7, 2010 - Defendant Twain Jackson sits inside the Hamilton County Court House about his pending preliminary trial.
One defense attorney in a downtown kidnapping case said Tuesday that his client is innocent.
Bill Speek represents Twain Jackson, 20, one of five men arrested in connection with two downtown kidnappings and a home invasion that occurred in late August.
“It’s horrific that this has happened, but what is equally horrific is for an innocent person to sit in jail,” Speek said outside the Hamilton County Courthouse shortly after a Tuesday hearing.
Jackson was the only one of the defendants seated in court as attorneys compared schedules on when to hold a preliminary hearing for Quintez “Tez” Bulloch, 21; Christopher Turner, 19; Jeffery McClendon Jr., 19; and Jackson.
The fifth suspect is a 17-year-old who will be tried in Juvenile Court. His name is not being released because he is a juvenile.
Police previously have released information that Jackson was not involved directly in the kidnappings but had knowledge of them.
Judge Ronald Durby set preliminary hearings for all defendants for Sept. 14.
Each defendant is represented by a different attorney, but information on the status of the juvenile was not available.
The first kidnapping took place near midnight at Second and Market streets on Aug. 25 when three men chased down Mychael Chunn, 19, forced him into the trunk of his car and drove to his Mountain Creek Road home. After stealing items from Chunn’s home, the men pawned them while keeping him locked in the trunk for 10 hours before releasing him.
Chunn since has moved home, four hours away from Chattanooga, in fear of retaliation from associates of the defendants.
Police have said that all defendants have gang affiliations.
The second kidnapping took place at 200 High St. at 4:40 a.m. on Aug. 28 when Joseph Clark was rushed by a gunman and told to get on the ground. He then was forced into the trunk of his car, but was escaped 10 minutes later using an internal release hatch.
The gunman and others drove Clark’s car to his apartment building and kicked in the door of a neighboring apartment, where they kicked and struck residents William Wan and Weiran Yang and ransacked their apartment, police said.
Todd South covers courts and the military for the Times Free Press. He has worked at the paper for three years and previously covered crime and safety in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia. Todd’s hometown is Dodge City, Kan. He served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq before returning to school for his journalism degree from the University of Georgia. Todd previously worked at the Anniston (Ala.) Star. Contact Todd ...
All five of these boys need to be locked up for life! I don't feel the least bit sorry for them. Jail is the best place for them. Throw away the key! If they get released, they are just going to go back to whatever gang they came from and cause more trouble and bring fear to people. They are evil
dog, don't you think we should have a trial first and then take them out and hang them?
As a member of the black community, I am ashamed to see these young black kids behaving this way. Why are these inner city kids behaving this way? To see the way that these "parents" are with their children, it is no wonder that 1) these kids behave these days the way they do, and 2) that racism really isn't dead. The "leaders" of my people (Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, etc) are teaching kids to hate others simply because of something that some of their ancestors did or even just because they are white. America is not made up of African-Americans, Latino-Americans or Native Americans. We are ALL Americans. Parents of all kinds, teach your children to respect God, family, themselves, and others. Enough is enough.
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