About 44 people charged in the state’s groundbreaking gang racketeering indictment were appointed legal counsel Friday and pleaded not guilty before a judge. Now, it’s just a matter of figuring out their individual roles in the alleged conspiracy.
“Please do not use the telephones at the jail,” defense attorney Zak Newman told his client, Johnny Clemons Jr. “Calls are monitored, they are recorded.”
Clemons is one of 54 people that prosecutors say belong to the Athens Park Bloods, a street gang responsible for dealing illegal drugs, committing robberies and arson, lying to authorities about their crimes, and using proceeds from their illegal activities to bail other members out of jail.
Last month, Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston charged all of them with a Class B felony that carries a sentence of 12-20 years in prison for conspiring to further the gang’s objectives through fraudulent business dealings. Another seven also face murder charges, and possibly the death penalty, in four previously unsolved homicides.
Before any of that happens, every defendant needs to be represented by an attorney, plead guilty or not guilty to the allegations, and then receive evidence from prosecutors. Early Friday, 18 defendants on bond walked up to the third floor of the Hamilton County-Chattanooga Courts building, passed through a specially assembled security checkpoint, and took their turns appearing before Judge Tom Greenholtz.