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Published Friday, July 04, 2008 in Local

Veitch to face judge for bond hearing

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

A bond hearing for Richard Jason Veitch, facing charges in the slaying of a worker at a construction site in south Coweta, will likely be held sometime next week.

According to Ray Mayer, senior assistant district attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit, Superior Court Judge William Lee has agreed to give Veitch a bond hearing. Next week is trial week, so it is likely that the hearing will be held then. Nothing has been specifically scheduled, however.

Mayer said that Veitch has now hired Newnan attorney Michael Kam to defend him. Mayer has assigned the case to Assistant District Attorney Pat Dutcher.

As of Thursday, Mayer was not aware of any new charges against Veitch.

Earlier this week, Captain Tony Grant of the Coweta County Sheriff's Office said "at least" three counts of aggravated assault would be added.

It's not necessary that the other charges be added before the bond hearing, Mayer said. And though the felony murder charge against Veitch requires a "predicate felony," he doesn't necessarily have to be charged with it, though he likely will be.

If Veitch is granted bond on the murder charge and later charged with aggravated assault, he could technically be re-arrested. Veitch would certainly have to be booked on the new charges. But, said Mayer, ordinarily, if the new charge is less severe than the original charge, an additional bond is not required.

The other two alleged victims in the case, Jorge Del Angel and Rolando Rivera, both cousins of fatally shot Gaston Gonzales, will be notified of the bond hearing and able to speak at the hearing, if they wish, Mayer said.

Mayer said the DA's office will oppose bond.

When it comes to whether or not a suspect is granted bond, "the underlying facts of the case are relatively unimportant," Mayer said.

There are four major issues to be considered, he said, including whether there is a substantial risk the accused will flee, commit another felony while out on bond, intimidate witnesses or otherwise interfere in the case.

Del Angel and Rivera have been assigned a victim advocate, Shanon Poulsen. Poulsen was on vacation this week, Mayer said.

Mayer said his office is working to identify and contact Gonzales' next of kin. At this point, he said, he does not know "what, if anything, we can or will do about getting next of kin here."

Mayer said he did not know whether or not Gonzales and the other alleged victims are legal residents of the United States.

Veitch is charged with murder for shooting Gonzales early Saturday morning on the property of a home being built by Veitch. Veitch has admitted to shooting the man, but said that the gun went off accidentally, authorities said.

Veitch is building several houses near the intersection of Trammell Road and Robinson Road in extreme southern Coweta between Moreland and the Meriwether County line. Trammel Road is a gravel road.

On Thursday, a small hand-lettered sign was posted in front of each of the under-construction houses, saying "smile, you are on camera." It has not been determined whether those signs were in place on the night of the shooting.

When the shooting occurred, Veitch had been staking out the property, on the lookout for copper thieves, authorities said.

He'd had problems with thieves steeling copper from the under-construction homes and had contacted the Coweta County Sheriff's Office on June 26, according to Grant.

Grant said that Veitch asked a deputy if he could shoot suspected thieves. He was told he could not. The deputy who responded to the call suggested Veitch install surveillance cameras of some kind.

Mayer said he was not aware of any kind of surveillance, photos or the like that were taken of the actual incident, or if the cameras mentioned in the signs actually exist.

The homes along Trammell Road were roughed in but not secured.

On Thursday, the doors and windows on each house were wide open. No garage doors were installed, so each home had a wide-open garage.

The three victims in the case worked for Senoia Drywall and were doing drywall work on the houses being built by Veitch.

According to Grant, the three men had finished up one house June 27 and were set to start another on June 28 -- last Saturday. Instead of driving home to Norcross, they decided to sleep in their van in the driveway of the house they were to start work on. The men left the work site on the evening of June 27 and went into town to buy lunch for the next day, Grant said.

When Veitch saw the van pull up, he called 911 and stated he was being robbed. A short time later, Veitch allegedly fired a warning shot, then ordered the three men out of the van at the point of a 12 gauge over/under shotgun. He allegedly told the three men to lie on the ground and to put their hands behind their backs.

Grant said Gonzales got down on the ground but did not understand English enough to know he was being told to put his hands behind his back. When Gonzales didn't comply with Veitch's commands, Grant said, Veitch poked the man in the back twice with the shotgun. The second time, the gun fired, fatally wounding Gonzales.

Grant said that two deputies who had been dispatched in response to Veitch's 911 call arrived less than five minutes after the fatal shooting.

Veitch is being charged with murder under Georgia code section 16-5-1c, which states "a person also commits the offense of murder when, in the commission of a felony, he causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice."

Aggravated assault is defined as assaulting someone "with a deadly weapon or with any object, device, or instrument which, when used offensively against a person, is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury." (O.C.G.A. 16-5-21(2).

At Veitch's initial commitment hearing, his attorney, Ron Harwell, tried to have the charge reduced to involuntary manslaughter.

Under Georgia law, there are two types of involuntary manslaughter. Felony involuntary manslaughter is when a person "causes the death of another human being without any intention to do so by the commission of an unlawful act other than a felony." That is punishable by one to 10 years.

Misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter is when someone "causes the death of another human being without any intention to do so, by the commission of a lawful act in an unlawful manner likely to cause death or great bodily harm." (O.C.G.A. 16-5-3 a and b.)