By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Woman indicted for trying to burn family
Grand jury hands down indictments
Placeholder Image
The following cases were brought before the newly empanelled grand jury:

State vs. Julie Lynette Barnard


The grand jury has indicted Julie Lynette Barnard on one count of arson in the first degree and five counts of aggravated assault.
Barnard is accused of starting a fire at the home of her estranged husband, John Barnard, in an apparent murder-suicide plot in the early morning hours of May 30.
Along with John Barnard, their four teen-age children, John, Jeremiah, Jarelle and Brittany were inside the residence on Dolly Jane Lane in Gum Branch.
It was reported that instead of trying to get her children to safety, Barnard gathered them together in the eldest daughter’s bedroom and asked them to pray. In an act of heroism, Brittany Barnard used a mini-stereo system to break open the bedroom window and help her brothers and mother escape harm. In doing so, she cut her hand, requiring surgery. Barnard fled the scene after dropping her children off at the hospital. John Barnard escaped the fire by pushing out an air conditioning unit from his room and crawling to safety. Warrants were issued for Barnard and she was later found wandering the streets in Long County and threatening to commit suicide.
Barnard had a preliminary bond hearing Aug. 27 before Judge David L. Cavender. Cavender ordered a forensic mental health evaluation for Barnard who is currently housed at the Liberty County jail.
A trial date was tentatively set for Dec. 10 before Judge Robert Russell.

State vs. Latasha Jackson

The grand jury indicted Latasha Jackson on one count of malice murder, one count felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of theft by taking - motor vehicle.
The charges stemmed from Jackson’s alleged involvement in the stabbing and eventual death of Roosevelt Buchannan on Oct 19, 2006 at his Azalea street home in Hinesville.
According to a Hinesville police report, Jackson called an acquaintance and asked her to check on Buchannan because she had cut him after they had an argument. The acquaintance, Kendra Williams, reported she drove to Buchannan’s house but called 911 from the driveway and did not go into the residence.
When police arrived, they found the front door slightly ajar and Buchannan lying in a pool of blood in the living room.
One of Buchannan’s neighbors reported seeing Buchannan’s vehicle leave the residence earlier “in a hurry.”
Buchannan was taken to Memorial Health in Savannah where he died about four weeks later.
Jackson was found in a wooded area near Buchannan’s abandoned vehicle and arrested. Her trial is tentatively set for Dec. 10 before Judge Russell.

State vs Shaun P. Martin

Shaun P. Martin was indicted on one count of manufacturing marijuana, two counts of possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, one count of possession of a controlled substance, one count of possession of tools for the commission of a crime and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
His trial is scheduled for Dec. 10, in front of the Judge Robert Russell.
Martin was arrested on Aug. 1 after the Multi Agency Crack Enforcement Drug Task Force served him with a search warrant for his 140-acre estate at 1005 Seabrook Island Drive in Midway.
MACE agents discovered eight pounds of packaged marijuana in a garbage bag hidden inside a plant potter, 37 marijuana plants throughout his estate’s yard and drug paraphernalia inside his home.
Martin claimed the marijuana was for personal use and cooperated with Mace during the investigation. He was released from the Liberty County jail Aug. 7 after posting a $20,000 cash bond.
Sign up for our e-newsletters
HPD Reports
crime scene

From Hinesville Police Department reports. Editor’s note: Due to computer issues at the city, reports have been unavailable in recent weeks. They are back. Our thanks to the HPD clerks who provide them. We’re catching up as quickly as possible.

Burglary, etc: A man called 911 on Feb. 27 because he was watching his White Circle home getting burglarized. The man said his alarm system had an app that showed live video on his phone, and he was “viewing three males inside his residence,” as he talked to 911.
Police responded, caught two of them inside the house and found the third guy “hiding behind a tree,” the report said.
Detectives are investigating.

Public indecency: An officer was sent to Lowes around 4:30 p.m. March 12 in reference to a disturbance involving a man and a woman.
The woman, a Lowe’s employee, said she had just got back from her lunch break when she saw the man “looking around at items on a shelf.”
The woman said she asked him if he needed help finding anything and he held up something, then said “I have found everything I need,” the report said. “(he) then placed his arms around (the employee) to hug her and then kissed (her) neck. (She) then moved away from (him) and told him to have a nice day and attempted to walk away from (the man). (He) then began to follow (her), stating ‘I would lick you up and down’ and ‘you better hide in an office.’ (She) then spoke with manager and called 911.’”
The man told police he thought he recognized the woman “and stated to me that he had previously had a relationship with her approximately two years ago. (He) was unable to recall (her) name while on scene.”
The woman told police “she has never seen, nor spoken to (the man) before today.”
The woman was given a case number and told what to do. The man was allowed to leave.

Indecent exposure: A Berkshire Terrace man reported he went outside his house around 6:40 a.m. and “observed a man who appeared to be intoxicated, peeing on his truck and trailer.”
The complainant said the man “fully exposed his penis while he was peeing. When (complainant) asked him to stop the man told him to ‘shut the (bleep) up.’ (Complainant) advised the man he would call police. (Complainant) advised his young son was standing outside during the incident. He said the man got into a 1996 black Buick and drove away, almost hitting cars that were parked in the driveway.”
The complainant said he did not want to press charges, “he said he wanted to report the incident because the man did not stop peeing when he asked him too.”
The complainant said he’d seen the man before “come and go” from a nearby apartment. The officer met with the resident of that apartment, who said the man was a cousin and did not pee on the complainant’s trailer.

Identity theft: A man went to HPD on March 21 to report that when he went to get a driver’s history for a commercial driver’s license, he found several citations on the history that weren’t his. “(He) stated he noticed someone was issued four citations in Arkansas and one citation in Jacksonville, Florida,” and during the time the Arkansas tickets were written he was in locked up in Georgia.
“(He) advised that he was not incarcerated when the citation in Jacksonville, Florida was issued but he was not in Florida at the time. (He) was unable to leave the state of Georgia due to being on felony probation.”
It gets worse.
“(He) told me that he attempted to file his income taxes for the first time ever and he was rejected due to owing the IRS money, $20,000. (He) stated he spoke to a representative for the IRS and he was informed that taxes were filed in his name in 2014 and the return was $1,3000. (He) advised he did not file taxes in 2013 and he was still incarcerated at the time.”
The man then told the officer he thinks his brother “got the citations and filed income taxes using his information. (He) believed his brother obtained his Social Security number and other demographics when he was incarcerated.”
The man said he talked to his brother, who said he paid all the tickets. “(His) brother also told him on a different occasion that he knew his date of birth and (SSN). (He) advised he told his brother that it was not OK to use his name due to him getting his life together and attempting to drive commercial vehicles.”
The guy said he didn’t have his brother’s address. He chose to fill out an identity theft packet.

Simple battery, theft by taking: An officer was sent around 2 a.m. March 20 to the Baymont Inn regarding a disturbance. There, a woman said she was being “grabbed and pulled” by a man when she told him to leave her motel room. She said they began arguing when he accused her of stealing $100.
The man claimed he met the woman on a dating website and when they “started having sex she informed him that it would cost $100.” He told her he wasn’t going to pay her, “got dressed and realized the five $20s in his pants pocket were missing. He accused (her) of stealing his money.”
The officer asked the woman if she stole the man’s money and she replied, “No, I work hard for my money.”
Both were given a case number and told how to get a warrant.

Robbery: A woman called HPD March 15 to report she was home when her estranged husband came to her apartment “and asked her to come outside to talk to him,” a report said.
“She stated that she stepped outside thinking that he was going to be civil, though she recently filed for divorce from him. As she stepped outside, he grabbed her necklace off her neck and then ran down the stairwell and out to the parking lot.”
The woman said he stood by his vehicle a minute, then drove off as police arrived. Officers checked the area but had no luck finding the man.

Burglary: Police were sent to a Malibu Drive address on March 13 regarding missing firearms and ransacked rooms. The homeowners were at work and got home to find handguns and rifles missing, as well as video games.
It appeared the home may have been broken into through the attic. Police found footprints and other evidence, and the case is under investigation.

Recovered stolen trailer: A U-Haul employee was inventorying equipment on March 14 when she discovered a trailer that had been reported stolen in Florida on Dec. 26. “She stated someone had backed the trailer into a parking stall along with the other trailers sometime during the night.”

Theft: In February, the maintenance man at Cypress Bend Mobile Home Park reported that “22 air conditioning unit disconnect boxes were stolen from various lots… He stated he began receiving calls from people that their air conditioning units were not working.”
The boxes contain small pieces of copper. He didn’t know who swiped them, but valued the total at about $341.

Latest Obituaries