I would like to clear up a few thing... We have learned ALOT in this process... One of the first things we learned is that there is not court reporter in District Court unless you pay for one. Had we known this, we would have had one there.
With that in mind, I can only relay to you what I heard and saw in the Lowndes County District Court and have no trial transcripts to back it up. I have tried to be honest and forth coming with all of you about this case and made no attempt to hide anything.

1. The boys did not testify in the District Court Case (we honestly thought that it would not go any further due to the lack of evidence etc.. )

2. The Retired Game Warden testified in District Court that he told the boys that he was a Lowndes County Reserve Deputy and went further to testify that he was in fact NOT a reserve Deputy. When asked why he told the boys this when he admittedly was not, he said it was to diffuse the situation.
(If I am not mistaken, this would be admitting to impersonating a peace officer in a court of law)
3. The Retired Game Warden also testified that he held the boys there and would not let them leave.

4. Both deputies were NOT present during the District Court Trial- Only one was and this was NOT the deputy who completed the paperwork. Because he was not there, we were not able to question him. If I remember correctly we were told it was his day off.

5. During closing arguments our Attorney, at the time, argued that the entire case should be null and void due to a lack of evidence and further that the Retied Game Warden who signed the initial warrants, admittedly impersonated a peace officer.

6. The District Court Judge said, when he rendered his verdict in this case that none of that matters, the “Retired Game Warden” has given this community over 20 years of good service, he is a good friend of mine and I value his opinion. GUILTY!

I cannot begin to tell you how SHOCKED we were at the verdict and what the Judge said when he rendered his decision. I was always under the impression that facts should be considered in a court of law and not friendship. It was immediately after the District Court Trail when we asked for a copy of the trial transcript , that we found out that no court reporter was present unless we paid for it. Apparently, the person who we thought was the court report, sitting up near the Judge was not. VALUABLE LESSON LEARNED!