Bogart man indicted in cyclist slaying
Father faces murder charges
By Joe Johnson |
[email protected] | Story updated at 11:54 PM on Saturday, May 24, 2008
An Oconee County grand jury on Friday indicted a Bogart man on murder charges, accusing him of shooting a motorcyclist he said was threatening his daughters.
Jurors returned a six-count indictment Friday charging Richard Harold "Ricky" Gear with malice murder and felony murder and other charges in the February shooting of 21-year-old Bryan Joseph "B.J." Mough of Winder.
Also on Friday, Lawton Stephens, chief judge of the Western Judicial Circuit, denied Gear's request for bond.
"The court is unable to find that the defendant poses no significant threat or danger to the community," Lawton said in his order.
Gear, 45, has been in the Oconee County Jail since Feb. 25, the night he shot Mough as the motorcyclist drove by his house on Gear Road, on the fringe of downtown Bogart.
Mough followed Gear's two daughters to their home after one of them flashed an obscene gesture and later sideswiped Mough's motorcycle, authorities said.
MULTIMEDIA PDF: Read a copy of the indictment against Richard Harold Gear:
View document (203k)
Witnesses testified at a preliminary hearing last month that Samantha and Chelsea Gear already had parked their car in the driveway of their home when Mough arrived.
Ricky Gear fired his gun a few times as Mough drove past, and shot at Mough once in the back after the biker made a second pass, witnesses testified.
The damage to the Gear sisters' car wasn't consistent with their original story that Mough intentionally rammed them, officials said.
The sisters admitted during the preliminary hearing that Mough didn't drive into their car.
And there were no tire tracks or other evidence to support Gear's claim that Mough tried to run over him as he drove past Gear's home the second time, authorities have said.
In addition to murder, the grand jury charged Gear with aggravated assault and three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
An arraignment date for Gear has not been scheduled.
