Court transcripts from the aggravated sexual assault case of the State of Texas vs Bartholomew Granger reveal why 20-year-old Samantha Jackson was scared of her biological father and accused gunman.
Investigators with multiple law enforcement agencies say 41-year-old Bartholomew Granger opened fire outside of the Jefferson County Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon at approximately 11:20 a.m. Granger is accused of killing 79-year-old Minnie Sebolt and injuring three others, including his daughter Samantha Jackson. Today there were new revelations in the chain of events leading up to the courthouse shooting.
Jefferson County District Attorney Tom Maness minces no words in expressing his concerns over what could have been if accused gunman Granger got into the courthouse with a weapon.
Maness says security video shows Granger was trying to get into the courthouse at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
"He tested the system, we are now getting into the film of the early morning activities he was at the courthouse quite early," said Maness while talking to 12 News HD Friday morning.
Maness is referring to Wednesday, the day after Granger's 20-year-old daughter testified against Granger on charges of aggravated sexual assault and what was said in this court on Tuesday afternoon, may shed some light on what happened Wednesday.
In court transcripts obtained exclusively by 12 News HD, Samantha Jackson testified she was afraid of telling her father that she wanted to stay with her mother for the summer when she was 17. Jackson said quote, "I told him that I just wanted to go see her and he threatened that he was going to come and kill me." Jackson continued being questioned by prosecutors and her answers sometimes came with tears saying at one point, "They kept contacting us from Myspace and leaving weird messages -- bad messages and they came to my school." The "they" she was referring to was her father, her uncle, her grandma, and her brother. Jackson also says, "He told me that if one day I got him mad and he choked me out no one would know about it and so I was scared of him."
It was after Jackson's testimony that Judge John Stephens stopped testimony for the day asking everyone to arrive again at 1 p.m. Wednesday afternoon but that never happened and as authorities continue to piece the puzzle together, they grow increasingly convinced the courthouse security system works.
"If we did not have the security, he could have got in with those firearms. If that would have happened, it could have been much worse.
