RICHLAND CO.—Scattered testimony, much of it making little sense, and overdramatic statements made by the county’s assistant prosecutor marked a strange preliminary hearing for the young man who’s being called Richland’s next Brandon Jenkins.
The preliminary hearing held for Jordan L. Fletcher, 22, of rural Richland County February 28, didn’t end in dismissal of charges of Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm in an occupied residence (a Class 1 felony) and Aggravated Domestic Battery (a Class 2 felony) as hoped. Fletcher is accused of shooting his roommate Marcus Adams, 23, also of rural Richland County (the same residence as Fletcher, as the two were sharing a rental house), on Feb. 7. Both are originally of Wabash County. Fletcher has been housed on a $150,000 bail ($15,000 cash bond) since Feb. 9.
Testimony given at the prelim was based on what appeared to be a surface examination of the scene by Illinois State Police. It also appears to be another case of ISP making their case around specific pieces of evidence instead of the common sense of what really could have happened…much like the case of Terry Payton in Edgar County (see related story).
And, like Payton, it also seems that Fletcher has a good argument for self-defense; however, self-defense, or even accidental shooting, doesn’t seem to be anything that’s in Richland prosecutor David Hyde’s lexicon…despite the fact that on the day of the prelim, Hyde was nowhere to be found.
Jordan Fletcher, in jailhouse stripes, is returned to the Richland County Jail by deputy Bill Novak in foreground, on the day of Fletcher’s preliminary hearing, February 28
Hires: only one who testified
Instead, assistant prosecutor Todd Reitz did the honors of conducting the prelim, this being held in front of Lawrence County resident judge Robert Hopkins, in Richland for the case on a regularly-scheduled conflict day.
One strange aspect of the case hit from the very outset: the only law enforcement official delivering testimony was Richland County sheriff Andy Hires, whose agency worked the case, but was apparently not the lead investigative agency. That honor was held by ISP, none of whose investigators was on-hand to give first-hand accounts of what limited investigation they conducted.
This resulted in the scattered, second-hand testimony supplied by Hires under questioning by Reitz….and explained his extreme nervousness when Fletcher’s criminal defense attorney, Alan Downen of McLeansboro, began questioning Hires on cross-examination.
As previously discussed…?
Hires’ testimony seemed to be the result of an intensive set of prior discussions he’d had with Reitz, as nearly everything Reitz asked was answered with only the vaguest details by Hires…as if Reitz already knew everything, and the two were just shooting the breeze about the case, not eliciting information for the judge to present enough probable cause to hold Fletcher over for trial.
Reitz began by asking Hires how he learned of the incident that involved Fletcher and Adams.
Hires said he “received a phone call that there was a shooting incident,” whereupon he “went ahead and responded to the call at 1018 Shell Road, Calhoun.” Hires did not elucidate as to the time of the phone call, nor who called him, thus beginning the vague testimony that continued throughout the hearing.
Hires then said that when he arrived at the location, Fletcher was in the back of an Olney police car (not Richland County; there was no explanation as to why an Olney city police car/officer had responded to the scene, which is about two and a half miles northeast of the village of Parkersburg, off Highway 130 in southeastern Richland County) and Adams was being put in an ambulance for transport to the hospital in Olney; he was then, said Hires, flown to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind.
Doing a little bit of backtracking—which would become a hallmark of the hearing—Hires then said that while he was on the way to the residence he contacted Illinois State Police who arrived at the scene as well.
Clearing the house
Hires then testified that he had contact with Fletcher; then officers (Hires didn’t specify whether they were officers of Olney PD, Richland County sheriff’s department or ISP) “cleared the house to make sure nobody else was in there.”
No searches were done of the house at the time, Hires advised when questioned; no warrants had been issued at that point, they were “just clearing it.”
Hires said that when Fletcher was taken to the sheriff’s department he was “detained but not in custody” (this was later determined to be because when Fletcher was explaining what happened, it initially sounded like a self-defense matter; see below).
At the sheriff’s department, Fletcher was allowed to change his clothes into a jail uniform and wash up because he had blood on him. At the hearing, Reitz did not ask why Fletcher was covered in blood, and Hires didn’t volunteer any information; it seemed to be simply a talking point between Hires and Reitz, one which they’d already gone over and determined wasn’t important at that time.
Fletcher was then asked what had happened, Hires testified. He’d said that earlier on the 6th, Fletcher had given Adams his credit card to go get groceries and Adams left and hadn’t showed back up for quite some time. Fletcher said that they had been “fighting all day through text messaging and through the phone.” Fletcher said Adams was “threatening to bring his friends over to beat him (Fletcher) up.”
Scant details about the guns
Not elaborating on that bit of information—something that was obviously crucial to the case—Hires began sort of “skipping around” in his testimony, and went right into telling about Fletcher rounding up all of his guns upon the “threat” from Adams about the “friends” showing up with him. There was no further testimony about this “threat.”
Hires said that Fletcher told him he laid out five weapons on his bed, then shut himself in his bedroom. Adams subsequently showed up (at about 4:30 a.m., one of the only time references in all the testimony), at which time Adams got into the house. Fletcher, Hires testified he was told, was “afraid Adams had brought over his friends to hurt him.”
Adams was standing outside Fletcher’s bedroom door, Hires said, keeping with the vague testimony, then he stated Fletcher told Hires he had shot at Adams twice; one shot “got him in the knee,” and then Fletcher said he struck Adams in the back with the gun.
Hires said Fletcher then told him once he realized Adams wasn’t getting up he proceeded to try and get help for Adams’ injury, not specifying WHO he got help from.
Fletcher, Hires said, had also admitted to smoking potpourri (synthetic cannabis.)
At that point, still on Thursday, Feb. 7, Fletcher was released because it had appeared he had acted in self-defense.
Claims stories not consistent
Later on that day, Hires said, they obtained a warrant for the house and police and ISP went there to investigate.
Hires did NOT testify as to whether the scene had been secured by deputies during the lapse time (neighbors, however, have reported to Disclosure that there were indeed deputies present).
Two ISP agents, Tim Brown and Albert Gallatin, went in with Richland County deputies. In the house, Hires testified, officers found that “Fletcher’s story wasn’t consistent with what he had told them had happened,” specifically, that there had been three shots fired. One had struck the fireplace in the living room (Hires didn’t elaborate on how the fireplace sat in the living room but that the bedrooms were on either side of the living room, and that the living room opens right into the kitchen); another had struck the window in Fletcher’s room; and a third struck Adams in the leg…although Hires didn’t say that right away.
There was also blood found in the living room and kitchen, Hires testified; and a meth smoking pipe and cannabis were located in Fletcher’s room.
No real explanation for things found outside
Outside the house, Hires, not specifying a location, testified they found “a bullet, a meth pipe and a phone.” When asked whose phone it was, Hires answered merely that he didn’t know; the meth pipe and bullet, he did say, were next to a puddle of blood, and there was blood on “a flashlight and a gun,” although what kind of flashlight and what kind of gun was not elaborated upon, and further, NONE of this was explained as to proximity of the house or other structures.
Hires and Reitz began talking about a garage, and started talking about a shotgun outside next to the garage; it was as if they’d had a prior discussion and were just conversationally talking about this, inserting it into testimony, but they then did not conclude any relevant discussion or details on those specific matters.
The gun Fletcher had used to shoot at Adams had broken, Hires testified, when Fletcher had hit Adams with it, which is something Fletcher said had happened. No description of this or any other weapon was given.
Giving ISP’s testimony
Hires then testified on behalf of ISP agents Tim Brown and Jeff Cline, who apparently weren’t available to give their own testimony—yet another bizarre aspect of the preliminary, as it was strictly up to Hires to deliver testimony about what everybody else involved in the investigation was doing.
The two agents, Hires testified, went to talk to Adams at the hospital and Adams said that he had “gone to the house to go check on Fletcher because they had been fighting all day.”
In very boiled-down portion of his testimony, Hires said that ISP’s interview showed that Adams said he went to his room and was packing; it was then that he heard a shot hit the fireplace. Then one missed and hit the window (Hires/ISP agents/Adams didn’t say which window; and there was no way of knowing how Adams would have known Fletcher’s window was hit, as the rooms are on either side of the living room of the house, thus too far apart). Then Hires testified that ISP’s report stated that Adams was trying to leave when “Fletcher shot him in the knee.”
ISP, Hires said, determined that Adams had been shot from behind. ISP found that Adams then called Kim Barnhart, (who, Hires said, owns, with her husband, a lumber yard in West Salem and was Adams’ previous employer as well as he had resided with her, at her house presumably, before) who called 9-1-1. Adams told ISP that he was planning to go stay at Barnhart’s that night. At this point, Hires said, ISP officers determined that Adams’ story coincided with what happened at the scene.
Reitz’ drama
Without explaining how Fletcher got to where he was for the second interview, Hires then testified that Fletcher was asked in a second interview what happened, and he admitted shooting at Adams three times instead of two.
Not elaborating on whether Fletcher simply was too shaken up on the day it happened to know how many shots he’d actually fired, Hires said he determined that Fletcher had been lying, and was therefore arrested at that point.
“Marcus’ intention,” said Hires, “was to just pack up and move in with Kim.”
Adams is walking on crutches and has a cast, he said when asked about Adams’ condition by Reitz.
And to add in one last little jab, when asked where Adams was currently, Hires said Adams was at an “undisclosed location” because “he’s scared of Fletcher and doesn’t want him to know where he is.”
“He will never run again,” Hires added, somewhat unnecessarily.
Hires gets nervous
Hires’ composure, kept level throughout the testimony, fell a few notches when Fletcher’s attorney, Alan Downen, began to question Hires on cross-examination.
Downen, a former Hamilton County state’s attorney, is now one of the premier criminal defense attorneys in downstate Illinois, and has gained a reputation as a heavy hitter that many lawmen really don’t like to tangle with.
“Adams never threatened Fletcher?” Downen asked Hires among his first set of questions.
Hires said he didn’t know but that was what Fletcher had told him he did. Hires went on to say how “Fletcher believed Adams had been on meth for about six months,” at which point Downen asked again if Adams had threatened Fletcher; again, Hires said he didn’t know.
“You’ll have to ask ISP,” Hires said dismissively, although up to that point, Hires ostensibly had all the answers as regards ISP’s investigation.
“Was Mr. Adams taking drugs?” Downen asked, to which Hires responded with another “I don’t know,” even though he “knew” all kinds of things when it was the state asking the questions.
“You didn’t find out if anybody was taking any drugs?” Downen asked.
Hires again offered that Fletcher had told them he believed Adams had been back on meth for the past six months.
Finally, some detail
Downen continued along his line of questioning Hires about some of the aspects of testimony that made little sense.
“According to the reports, Mr. Adams was getting his clothes and Mr. Fletcher just started shooting?” Downen asked. Hires didn’t answer; the question was rhetorical.
Hires was then asked by Downen what all was recovered from the scene, in particular, what was going to be tested.
Fidgeting, and glancing around the courtroom somewhat nervously, Hires said they located the guns, even the broken one, and that there was a gun outside by the garage, at which point Hires actually gave a type of gun: that one was a double barrel 12-gauge shot gun, which reference came from out of nowhere. He also noted that the bloody clothes, which had been collected at the jail, had been sent to a lab.
Downen asked if there were any neighbors (there was one across the road; one to the north, and one to the east) but to Hires knowledge, he testified, ISP didn’t interview any neighbors.
Regarding the phone lying next to a puddle of blood, Hires again said he didn’t know to whom it belonged, but that “they were going to find out.”
When asked if there was any toxicology Hires responded “No, not on either one and it was not determined if the hospital did any.”
Downen reiterates
Asked about Fletcher’s physical health conditions during the time of the incident, Hires said Fletcher had previously sustained a neck or head injury in an accident, and that his foot was swollen as a result of an incident that had occurred before the shooting.
Downen rounded off the questioning by asking once more, “So, according to reports Mr. Adams was getting his clothes and Fletcher just started shooting?” Hires, fidgeting once again, said yes, according to ISP reports, that was what happened.
Reitz concluded the hearing by noting that Fletcher’s first story was different than the second, and that it was inconsistent; Adams’ story was consistent, he said, whereas Fletcher changed his story. Reitz also threw in there the somewhat overdramatic statement that “Adams will walk with a limp for the rest of his life.”
Good candidate for self-defense
Hopkins found probable cause and bound Fletcher over for trial. A date has not been set. Fletcher, on the 28th, waived formal arraignment on the charge and entered a plea of “not guilty.”
And while details are scant, it appears it’s a good candidate for a jury trial, and in particular, a speedy trial (120 days while incarcerated) at that.
The main factors that Hires, as well as ISP, seem to be overlooking are that because of the threats issued by Adams, Fletcher was in fear for his safety and well-being, which caused him to legally arm himself, in his own home, a key component in a defense against the charge of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm.
Whether this will play out in the “evidence” ISP is actually gathering this time will be seen in future court dates.
A pretrial conference had been set for March 14; no future date beyond that has been established by the court.