A jury convicted a Bainbridge man of three counts of aggravated assault in a Feb. 9 trial of the Decatur County Superior Court.

Thirty-four-year-old Kenneth Jerome Kinder received a 10 year sentence for firing three gun shots at several people on Sept. 13, 2008. Kinder was at the intersections of Washington Street and Orange Street in Bainbridge when he got out of his vehicle and fired three shots in the direction of Orange Street, where Dennis Brooks, now 38, was walking.

Brooks told police earlier that day he had been speaking with Kinder’s girlfriend on the telephone. She informed him he could no longer call her because it was causing a problem with herself and Kinder.

Investigators recovered one of the slugs from the shooting in the wall of a house on Orange Street where a juvenile had been sitting outside on the porch. Kinder was arrested and provide police with the location of the nine millimeter pistol he used in the shooting.

Several witnesses to the event were called to testify at the trial, including Brooks.

District Attorney Joe Mulholland said Kinder’s apparent recklessness and disregard for public safety had an impact on the case.

Dogs help catch wanted man

Police were able to locate a wanted suspect on Feb. 9 thanks to the keen senses of the Appalachee Correctional Institution tracking dogs.

On Feb. 9, Decatur County Sheriff’s Deputy Vincent Edmonds was patrolling on Simmons McIntyre Road when he saw Scott Dean Simmons, 23, who he recognized as being wanted for two felony state probation warrants, according to incident reports. Simmons, of 133 Baker Johnson Road in Attapulgus, fled from the deputy into a wooded area behind a home.

Police quickly set up a perimeter around the area. Retracing the suspect’s path, DCSO Sergeant Michael Logue discovered a black hooded sweatshirt containing an amount of marijuana and crack cocaine.

The ACI tracking dogs were called out to help in the search. The dogs led officers to a residence on Baker Johnson Road, where a shoe print was discovered on the ground beneath an unlocked window. The owner of the home allowed officers to search the residence and they found Simmons hiding in the attic.

Simmons was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana with intent to distribute in addition to two probation violations for the original charges of possession of cocaine and forgery.