2nd man jailed for death during home invasion|[01/11/08]

Published 12:00 am Friday, January 11, 2008

A second Jackson man has been captured and charged with capital murder for the death of an alleged accomplice in a Dec. 30 home invasion robbery in south Warren County.

Thomas Lamont Flaggs, 30, 910 Claiborne Ave., was picked up by investigators Jeff Crevitt and Mike Traxler, along with U.S. marshals, at about 4 p.m. at his home. Sheriff Martin Pace said additional suspects were being sought.

Authorities believe Flaggs, David Cornelius Bass, 30, 222 Ferguson St., who surrendered at the Warren County Sheriff’s Department last Sunday afternoon, and 21-year-old Jonathan Bruce went into a mobile home at 25 Red Oak Drive with intent to rob the occupants. A teen who lived in the mobile home shot and killed Bruce in apparent self-defense.

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The adults who lived in the mobile home, Pace said, were roadside vendors. Bruce, Flaggs and Bass had forced their way inside at about 7 p.m. after inquiring about purchasing shoes, authorities said. The adults were not home and the teen and other juveniles told authorities the intruders started bagging up merchandise. The teen, who has not been identified, shot Bruce once with a .410 shotgun. After being wounded, Bruce turned and walked out onto the lawn, where he was found dead when deputies arrived. The other men, believed to be Bass and Flaggs, fled in a white 2007 Hyundai Sonata, which had no license plate, and left the property.

That getaway car was recovered Thursday and brought back to the sheriff’s department for forensic evidence, Pace said. Authorities found the car abandoned at an apartment complex parking lot in Jackson. The car is not registered to Bruce, Flaggs or Bass.

Pace said the details of the investigation will be presented to the district attorney, but it appeared the teen’s action — Warren County’s only homicide of 2007 — will be deemed justifiable.

Not so for Bass and Flaggs. Both also face armed robbery charges with the capital murder charges pending under a legal theory that participants in a violent crime, even if they didn’t intend for an accomplice to be killed, can be held responsible. Such factual situations are very rare and so are trials.

Bass and Flaggs were in the Warren County Jail today. Bass had his bond set at $200,000, but has not been released. Flaggs is scheduled to be arraigned today or Monday, depending on the court’s schedule.

While Pace said other arrests are expected, he refused to go into further detail. He said Warren County officers worked with counterparts in the Jackson Police Department to identify Bruce’s companions.