A Butts County man accused of beating his grandmother to death will remain in jail, a judge said Thursday.
JeNorman Bland won’t be released on bond and will have to wait for a date when a Towaliga Judicial Circuit Superior Court judge can decide whether he merits freedom, a magistrate said.
Authorities allege that Bland, 18, pummeled Glenda Woodard with an aluminum baseball bat repeatedly Tuesday evening until she died. He is charged with murder.
Investigators say the attack followed Woodard’s refusal to take Bland to the store.
“The facts of this case are especially horrendous and grotesque,” Richard Milam, the district attorney for the Towaliga Judicial District, which includes Butts County, said Thursday. “A young man killing someone he otherwise should love … I’m afraid I’ve seen that too many times.”
About a dozen family members and friends — some in tears as others offered comforting whispers and embraces — watched Thursday morning as Bland emerged from a holding cell behind the Butts County magistrate courtroom shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit.
Bland could barely be heard as he answered questions from the magistrate judge.
After the hearing, Butts County Sheriff Gary Long allowed Bland’s father and several other family members to visit him briefly in the holding cell.
Relatives declined to speak to reporters.
Long said Bland has shown remorse over what happened to Woodard.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind that he loved his grandmother,” Long said. “He’s indicated that to us.”
What led to the alleged attack remains murky.
Authorities said Woodard was preparing to go to work Tuesday evening when Bland asked her for a ride to the store.
He wanted to buy cigars, Long said.
“She refused because she had to go to work,” the sheriff said.
Long alleges that’s when the assault occurred.
Jackson police confirmed that Bland, a senior at Jackson High School, was charged with fighting at school in October. But no other record of run-ins with the law were apparent since his 17th birthday, when he could be charged as an adult, authorities said.
Bland remains in the Butts County jail, with March 20 the earliest possible court date available to him, authorities said.
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