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Critiquel.oui* KilzgeraldROBERT LEE JEST, 23, of Colquitt, Georgia is introuble. Robert Lee is charged with the murder of RobertLadon Merritt II, grandson of W. Felix Tabb Sr., sheriff of Miller County for the last 35 years. Merritt’s great uncle isdeputy sheriff and so are two of his uncles. The doctor who tried to save young Merritt from death is a foster uncle and the judge who ordered the defendant held on a murder charge is a distant cousin and to top it all the prosecutor is nephew of the judge who rejected pretrial arguments and a former lieutenant governor of Georgia, famous for his oratory in his belief in segregation.ALL THIS happened in June of 1970 and although Georgia law requires a committal hearing within 72 hours of a felons arrest, Jest was not to win one for more than five months.JEST HAS been quoted as saying he could not win a fair trial in Colquitt. I know damn well this Black man will not have a fair trial and anyone who thinks he will has got to be out of his ever-loving cotton-picking mind.IN A COUNTY of 7,000 persons, Sheriff Tabb presides over a fiefdom that probably never heard, adherred to, honored, or respected the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, or heard of Civil Rights.UNLESS ROBERT LEE Jest can get a change of venue, he most surely will be prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to death. It is not my purpose here to determine innocence or guilt, but under these circumstances a deaf mute could establish the negatives of a fair trial. I have been critical of Blacks to do their own thing and now I want to play the game fair and square. There Is no way and I mean no way Robert Lee can receive a fair trial in the town of Colquitt. The sentence is inevitable under the existing conditions in Colquitt. Ironically, the new governor of the State of Georgia announced a few weeks ago everyone and that means everyone whether he be Black or white get and receive equal treatment under the law. I wonder if these words have been received by the Tabb family in Colquitt?NOT TO PREJUDGE the trial or its ramifications I think as a Black man I would be incensed enough to wage open war fare in this bastion of white supremacy just to let whitey know the law applies equally to all if Robert Lee were not given a fair and just trial. mFROM ALL ACCOUNTS young Merritt brought his death upon himself for becoming enraged over a minor traffic incident which to my way of thinking did not necessitate his actions. Atlanta, Georgia has increasingly become a pearl of the south in many ways, with equality being one of the greatest advancements, but outside Atlanta in much of the rural counties the pearl does not exist and is just a babble.IF MASSA bosses in Colquit, Georgia don't know it an unjust trial can touch off a wave of destrictive forces thatcan cause irresporable harm, dammage and solidify the present thrust of the widening polarization. When white folks in the north wonder why Blacks say they ain’t taking this kind of crap anymore I hope they keep their eyes on the Robert Lee Jest case and get the answers for themselves.
Newspaper Details
Bulletin
Chicago, Illinois, US
Thu, Feb 25, 1971
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Austin C.
TX, USA 08 Jun 2020
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