Jerry DuBoise, 23




Judge denies bail for alleged shooter in Paradise Lounge double murder

A judge denied bail this morning for a man accused of gunning down 2 men outside the Paradise Lounge in Eight Mile last month.

Jerry Bohannon, 48, faces two counts capital murder after prosecutors upgraded the charges from murder.

Under Alabama law, a person can be charged with capital murder, and face the death penalty, for killing two or more people in the same incident.

Prosecutors said Andy Harvey and Jerry DuBoise, who were playing pool together at the lounge in the early morning hours, were shot and beaten with a gun outside the bar. Police have said the shooting was recorded on a surveillance camera.

Bohannon had been released from jail on Dec. 13, two days after the shooting, on a $250,000 bail set by District Judge George Hardesty.

This morning, District Judge Charlie McKnight denied bail on the upgraded charges.

Defense attorney Bob Clark said the District Attorney’s Office only pursued capital murder in an effort to get a new judge and have Bohannon denied bail.

“The night that this happened, was it capital then?” Clark said,

Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphree, in response, said “that’s absolutely ridiculous.”

She said charges are often upgraded as an investigation unfolds, and after an incident, police are trying to make an arrest as soon as possible to protect the public.

When someone is arrested, she said, that is not the end of the investigation, she said.

“That, in fact, is just the beginning of the investigation,” she said.

http://blog.al.com/live/2011/01/bond...ise_loung.html