Criminal court begins today

Staff Writer

The March Criminal Term of Court opens today in Upson Superior Court with 178 cases on the docket - most of which are drug-related, but also cases charging murder and attacks on the elderly.

The two-week session begins today with Superior Court Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr. hearing pleas. This afternoon, jury selection will begin in the murder trial of Tracy White, charged with the Aug. 16, 2003 fatal shooting of Larry Eugene Miller Jr., 30, 1961 Miller Road, near the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Wiley Street the Aug. 16.

Also on the docket are cases against Bobby Griffin, 43, alleging two brutal attacks on elderly women. Griffin, of Zorn Street, is charged in connection with the July 2001 attack on an 95-year-old Johnston Drive woman and a separate May 2002 attack on an 85-year-old Peachtree Street woman.

Griffin has been in jail since the charges were first filed. He also has other charges pending in separate break-ins which did not involve violent attacks. He has also been convicted in a theft case.

Also to be heard are two charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute against Mary Ann Bragg, a woman who police say they suspect in the September 2002 murder of her husband Tom Bragg. No charges have been filed in connection with Bragg's murder, but police say their investigation continues.