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The Hajj Womack Case

WOMACK GRANTED BAIL BUT WILL FACE SECOND TRIAL

By SAEED AHMED

After almost a year in prison, Hajj Womack is finally free -- at least for now.

The 23-year-old Morehouse alumnus and honor student was released on bail October 31, days after a Fulton County jury acquitted him on 73 felony counts. Womack, however, faces a second trial early next year on three deadlocked charges.

Prosecuting Attorney Shawn LaGrua, who earlier said she will oppose all appeals for bail, expressed disappointment at Womack's release, but said she will `most definitely' re-try him.

"I'm not going to let this go," LaGrua said, of her decision not to drop the remaining charges. "I believe Mr. Womack is a dangerous individual, and I owe it to the community to try him again."

But at least one jury member has said the evidence against Womack is "flimsy" and a second attempt will only result in another mistrial.

"We deliberated the same issues over and over, but neither the prosecution nor the defense presented us with enough evidence to sway us in any particular direction," said the juror, who did not wished to be named. "If the case is tried again, the outcome will be same -- a mistrial. There simply isn't enough evidence."

Indeed, the case against Womack -- who is charged in a series of robberies which the State claims were carried out to stockpile weapons for a religious "gang," the Five Percent Nation -- is based primarily on the testimony of his one-time roommate Roy Norwood.

Norwood, who faces over 350 years in 17 armed robbery charges, plea bargained for a sentence of seven years and in exchange testified that Womack participated in some robberies with him. In subsequent testimonies, however, Norwood contradicted himself several times.

And with the absence of witnesses and no physical evidence against Womack, the bi-racial jury of 7 whites and 5 blacks had little to go with for a conviction.

The three unresolved charges that remain are two counts of armed robbery and aggravated assault relating to a December 4, 1994, holdup of a Kroger store, and one count of gang conspiracy.

During the trial, the store manager for Kroger identified Womack as being in the store minutes before the robbery, and Womack himself admitted he and other Five Percenters had talked about robbing drug dealers but denied carrying any out.

But Womack's attorney, George Lawson, said these facts alone do not make him guilty.

"There still is no evidence of any kind to suggest he conspired to or committed the robbery, " Lawson said. "They say they found books relating to guerilla warfare in Hajj's room, but books don't rob people. There's not a book being charged with robbing [here]."

For now, Womack is planning to start work with the Journal of Negro History at Morehouse, and is anxiously awaiting the re-trail.

"His frustration is understandable -- he wants for all of this to be done with," said Alton Hornsby, Womack's mentor and Chair of the Morehouse History Department. "But he is confident as he has always been. He knows he is innocent and he knows his innocence will be vindicated."