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PAGE 8A BARROW JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008 Body found continued from 1A Police videotaping continued from 1A REMAINS FOUND The remains of the boyd found earlier this week have still not been identified. Photo by Susan Norman The human remains and clothing were in such poor condition that investigators could not determine the gen der or race of the victim. The severe decomposition also made it impossible to tell immediately when the per son died. Law enforcement officials expect to know more details after they receive the results of an autopsy. The case was classified as a homicide investigation. Two people walking in the woods behind a house in the 900 block of Atlanta Highway near Statham found the body at about 5 p.m. Sunday. Because the body was discovered near nightfall, it was impossible to process the scene Sunday evening, said Major Murray Kogod, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office. The scene was secured that evening and the body left in place until Monday, when the area around the body was checked for evidence and the remains were sent to the Georgia Crime Lab for the autopsy, he said. “We do have some indica tion that it may have been foul play. That’s all I can say right now,” Kogod said about the case. No ID was found with the body. Kogod said the Sheriff’s Office needs public’s help in identifying the victim. “Our main focus right now is identifying who this is. Anyone who believes they may have any information whatsoever, such as knowl edge of a missing person, should call the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office at 770-307-3083.” Students arrested continued from 1A “Upon viewing the video, I observed Landy fight and wrestle with Ms. Mansberger after being separated from the fight,” Deputy Yoder wrote in a report of the incident. “Landy continued to act in a violent and tumultuous man ner towards Ms. Mansberger, pushing against her and spin ning her around in an attempt to reengage in the fight...,” the deputy wrote. The struggle continued beyond the cafeteria. “Landy continually pushed against and at one point spun Ms. Mansberger around in an attempt to reengage in a fight with (the other student),” Yoder wrote. The incident ended when assistant principal Brian Moore restrained the older student and took her to the principal’s office. She was then arrested and transported to the Barrow County Detention Center. TWO OTHER JUVENILE ARRESTS Two other 16-year-olds were charged in Barrow County last week in incidents unrelated to schools. A female was charged on Nov. 13 by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office with false report of a crime, false state ments in writings and conceal ment of facts, and possession of a controlled substance. A 16-year-old male was also charged on Nov. 13 by the BCSO with obstruction of officers, giving a false name and false information to police officials and false report of a crime. Auburn couple continued from 1A “The weapon has not been recovered, but we did man age to find three casings out side,” Lapsky said. “I know she had three bullets in her; he had one bullet in him. She had several pass-through wounds where the bullet enters and exits the body.” The casings from the .25-caliber pistol were found outside the rear of the resi dence, according to a police incident report. “They were located below the air conditioning unit, where there were a number of holes entering the resi dence,” the report states. An initial suspect known to the victims has been cleared. Police at this point do not have any idea who fired the gun. “We do not know who did it. We collected evidence from the scene. As soon as the victims are capable of talking, we are going to conduct interviews,” said Lapsky. According to the police report, the shooting occurred at about 3:49 a.m. Nov. 15. The victims initially didn’t know what hit them. The woman’s daughter said she heard a loud bang moments before her mother yelled to her to come into her room. “When she saw her mom, her mom stated she was bleeding but did not know why,” states the report. “Mr. Borg also stated to me he thought he heard a real gun shot go off just before he felt bleeding.” Lapsky said he does not know of another double shooting in Auburn’s his tory. “The last time we had a shooting in Auburn, where somebody was actually hit, was in 2001.” videotape has remained sealed and has never been reviewed by anyone, she said. DEFENDS RECORDING District Attorney Rick Bridgeman defended both Wolff and the videotaping. He said the videotape was not made for use as evi dence, but in order to protect the integrity of “original evi dence” that could have been damaged or destroyed by the defendant. At the time of the record ing on Oct. 8, Kirschenbaum and his client, Samuel C. Laird of Windsor Court, Winder, were at the WPD reviewing CDs that had been prepared by the U.S. Secret Service in connection with the case. After 20-40 minutes, Kirschenbaum said he noticed the video camera in the room and that its lights were on. “The camera pointed directly at Defendant Laird and ... counsel so that Mr. Laird’s reactions to the evi dence would be recorded. The camera also recorded comments made by both Laird and his attorney,” the motion stated. Kirschenbaum then demanded that the camera be turned off, but the request initially was refused. As he was dialing a judge’s sec retary to request assistance, the attorney said a WPD officer turned off the cam era. The officer then took the tape out of the machine and sealed it in an envelope and the envelope was placed in the department’s evidence room. The attorney said he asked the Winder officer why the meeting was being video taped. “They both (the WPD offi cials) stated that they vid eotaped the meeting at the direction of Assistant District Attorney Mary Beth Wolff,” the motion stated. In a meeting with Wolff later that same day, Kirschenbaum said he asked her not to view the video tape. “Ms. Wolff stated that she would not make that prom ise and noted that she did not think there was anything wrong with the secret vid eotaping of Defendant Laird and counsel,” the motion stated. PROTECTION OF EVIDENCE Bridgeman said this week that the session had been recorded to protect the evi dence, apparently the CDs. He also said Laird’s lawyer could not invoke attorney-cli ent privilege for that meeting because the evidence techni cian remained in the room with the evidence through out the encounter. “I think the law is pret ty clear that the attorney- client privilege only per tains to when there is not a third party in the room,” Bridgeman said. Bridgeman said the video taping issue has not come up in any other case since his appointment in September 2007 at the district attorney for the Piedmont Circuit. “I don’t know that this will come up again. It’s an unusual case with unusual circumstances.” Winder Chief of Police Stanley Rodgers said Wednesday that he would not comment on the case. “That’s a judicial action, and I don’t want to com ment. I will just tell you it’s not our normal practice to do what’s alleged.” The chief would not con firm whose decision it was to turn on the camera. “I have no comment on who requested it,” he said. For his part, attorney Kirschenbaum demurred on the question of whether or not Wolff had ordered the taping. “I’m not lying, and I’m not commenting,” he said. Ruling continued from 1A The litigation between Century Center and Braselton goes back nearly two years after the developers objected to some city-mandated infrastructure improvements along Hwy. 211, saying the road might be widened in the future thereby tearing out the improvements. But Braselton leaders refused to give Century Center a variance and the developers sued Braselton in January 2007, saying the property had not been annexed correctly into the city. The move was apparently an attempt to with- Early voting begins draw from Braselton’s overlay district require ments which the firm objected to following. The court’s dismissal revolves around an April 2007 hearing at which Braselton said lawyers for Century Center had “perpetrated a fraud upon the Court” with misleading tes timony. The judge agreed in July with that argu ment and ordered the firm to reimburse the city’s legal expenses, or face having the case dismissed. his week in Barrow With Georgia’s Dec. 2 runoff elections less than two weeks away, early voting will begin this week in Barrow County. Early voting this week at the Barrow County Administration Building will end Friday and advance voting will begin next Monday. It ends Nov. 26. The location for both periods of in-person voting is the office of the Barrow County Board of Elections and Registration. Anyone wanting to vote by absentee ballot must make the request no later than Nov. 26. Only those ballots received by Dec. 2 will be counted. Candidates include: •U.S. Senator: Saxby Chambliss (R) and Jim Martin (D). 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