Letter to the Editory by Larry McNeely about trial of Jana Bell

First of all I arrived only for the verdict portion of the "Jana Bell" trial in Gallatin when the Jury returned a "Not Guilty" verdict on all counts against her, and she was released from custody. Not having been present during the trial I was shocked at the verdict and Debbie Bell, the victim, who lost her house in McFall and all of her furniture, clothes, dead pets, legal documents all destroyed by arson fire, was very upset and distraught. Jana Bell had been accused of setting this fire against her step-mother in a hate crime by the County Prosecutor in Daviess County. She, (Debbie) is now very fearful for her personal safety. There were four guards from the Regional Jail just to watch Ms. Jana Bell for security reasons. The Jury was discharged and leaving the courthouse. While talking to a discharged juror about this case, outside the courtroom, a Daviess County Deputy overheard us discussing the many concerns and weakness of the Sheriff’s case. That Deputy claimed that I was harassing the juror and I could not have a conversation with him. The juror had told me that the case was all hearsay, circumstantial and poorly investigated. The juror was openly and voluntarily discussing this with me. He never said that he did "not" want to talk to me about the verdict. Had he refused to talk to me about this, I would have respected that. While the juror was talking with me outside the courtroom about this situation and the weaknesses of Sheriff’s case, I received a ticket by the direct instruction of Sheriff Ben Becerra for "Disturbing the Peace". This was the only juror and person present, so what public disturbance occurred. Naturally I intend to pursue this, as I do have a free speech right, I hope, left in America. I supported Ben for Sheriff last election but after this I wonder. It is difficult to tell exactly what happened here with this case, but the jurors were concerned about "hear-say" evidence. I wonder if this was just investigative "weakness" by our Sheriff’s Office and the State Fire Marshall. What a sad day in Daviess County when this could happen to Debbie Bell that all her property being destroyed by arson fire and the perpetrator is set free. I am retired law enforcement from California and taking care of my mother in Pattonsburg and I have the greatest respect for our jury system. But that does not mean that I cannot talk or ask about verdicts’ with discharged jurors as there was no court order prohibiting it.

Larry McNeely, Pattonsburg