PERRY -- A Houston County grand jury has declined to indict a Gonzales, La., man on murder and related charges in connection to a fatal shooting at a Warner Robins nightclub in 2009.
As a result, District Attorney George Hartwig said Wednesday he intends to dismiss all charges against Eldridge Romain LeBlanc, 24, and close the case.
LeBlanc was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in the Sept. 4, 2009, shooting outside LaRouge at 623 S. Houston Lake Road, Suite 105. The nightclub has since closed down.
Clarence Lee, 30, of Bonaire, a staff sergeant with the 78th Logistics Readiness Squadron, was taken by ambulance to Houston County Medical Center, where he later died. He was shot once in the chest in an argument turned deadly, police said.
The grand jury issued the “no bill” Tuesday.
Whether the grand jurors, who met behind closed doors, found LeBlanc was defending himself or another person, or that there was insufficient evidence against him, was not known, Hartwig said.
“My plan is to dismiss the charges against this individual, and we’re closing this case,” Hartwig said.
Robert Gurd, a Warner Robins attorney who represented LeBlanc, said, “Obviously, we’re very pleased. We strongly believed this was a self-defense case from the beginning.”
To defend LeBlanc, Gurd said he brought in private investigator Robert Warner of Warner Robins-based R. Warner & Associates based in. Gurd said numerous witnesses and other people who were at the club that early morning were tracked down and interviewed.
According to Gurd, LeBlanc and his cousin Terrance Williams, who LeBlanc was visiting, were leaving the club. LeBlanc had come out first and was asked by Mary Price if he’d walk her to her car, Gurd said.
LeBlanc was harassed by two men, Lee and his friend Gregiove Clements, parked nearby in a pickup truck. Williams went over. At some point, a gun was displayed from within the truck, Gurd said. LeBlanc and Williams were seen putting their hands in the air and turning to leave on one of the many surveillance videos from stores in the shopping center that captured portions of the incident, Gurd said. At some point, the gun was again displayed -- this time to Price, Gurd said.
LeBlanc and Williams, along with two women, were attempting to leave in a car with Williams driving. Lee and Clements allegedly pulled Williams out of the car and began beating and kicking him, Gurd said. LeBlanc and the women got out of the car.
At some point, another gun that Williams was carrying got loose, and all attention is focused on the gun, Gurd said.
In that moment, believing he was facing a deadly threat, fearing an attack of himself or others from Lee and Clements, LeBlanc grabbed the gun and it went off, Gurd said. LeBlanc pulled the trigger, Gurd said.
The entire incident lasted only four minutes, Gurd said.
“This was a guy who didn’t bring a gun to a fight,” Gurd said of LeBlanc.
“They were just trying to leave.”
LeBlanc was initially released from jail in November on a $1,000 bond with electronic monitoring and was basically under house arrest, Gurd said. In December 2010, he was allowed to return to Gonzales, La., on bond, Gurd said.
To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559.
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