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Judge: No favors in Carter case

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

Fayette County Magistrate Court Judge Bob Ruppenthal denies allegations he gave former President Jimmy Carter’s grandson special treatment when he held a bond hearing for the accused teen burglar on Sunday, Dec. 5.

“Our policy is Monday through Friday at 2 p.m.; on Saturday, we do bond hearings in the middle of the day; and on Sunday we do bond hearings when we are needed,” Ruppenthal said, later adding, “I could see how they could perceive that because it was on a Sunday, but the jail can call us anytime.”

Ruppenthal was called to bond out two men that Sunday. He said he had no idea one of the inmates would be 17-year-old Jeremy Davis Carter, the former president’s grandson.

He added that he would never give anyone special treatment no matter what standing they had in the community. In fact, Ruppenthal said he added extra special conditions to Carter’s bond to protect the family.

“I imposed conditions on the bond that he couldn’t have any contact with the victim or the victim’s family whether direct or indirect,” Ruppenthal said. “In other words, he couldn’t have someone contact the family on his behalf.”

Carter’s attorney, Joseph Saia, said Carter maintains his innocence.

“We deny all of [the charges],” Saia said. “The circumstances will prove that this is totally incorrect.”

Saia also rejected allegations that Carter received special treatment at the jail. “If it was special treatment I would have wished that he came earlier,” Saia said of Ruppenthal. “I had been sitting there until about 1:30 p.m. He arrived around 4 p.m., about 30 minutes after the Falcons game went off.”

Saia also objected to the sheer number of police officers who responded to the Carter home following the alleged burglary. He said the arrest was mishandled.

Peachtree City police officials offered no comment on the allegation.

“There were a good number of police at the Carter family on the morning after this happened,” Saia said. “This is a good family and an affluent community. I don’t know why there were so many people for the arrest.”

The McIntosh High School senior faces charges of burglary, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and possession of alcohol in connection with an incident at 201 Clear Springs Lane in Peachtree City Dec. 4.

The case has showed up in news reports from Edmondton, Alberta to London, England.

A child, who knew Carter, allegedly spotted the teen hidden underneath a bed, holding an X-Box video game system, according to police reports.

Carter allegedly attempted to bolt from the home through the back door, with the $150 video game system in hand, but was confronted by another witness who snatched the game system from his hands, police said.

Carter then reportedly scaled a fence and fled to his home at 311 Spear Rd., Peachtree City, where he was later taken into custody by police, according to official reports. A verbal confrontation allegedly erupted between police and Carter’s parents, Annette and Donnel Jeff Carter, Jimmy Carter’s youngest son, as police arrived to pick up Jeremy, police said.

“The mother became increasingly verbally aggressive and started to move toward the officers as if to take the offender back from the arresting officers,” according to statements from police.

“As the mother became more aggressive, Sgt. Miller informed her that she was in danger of violating the law,” the police report said.

As police led young Carter to the squad car, Annette Carter allegedly accused the officers of being “Nazi Gestapo,” police said.

On the way to the Fayette County jail, police detected an odor of alcohol coming from Carter. The officers also noted Carter’s eyes were red and glassy and his lips were red and swollen. Police allegedly later heard a noise in the car that sounded like a shoe bouncing off the floor of the vehicle. They searched Carter and found a clear plastic bag of suspected marijuana in his shoe, police said.