Defendant in Hiding After ‘All Hell’ in Courtroom : Slaying Victim’s Kin Run Amok After Acquittal

About 200 outraged relatives and friends of a slaying victim went on a rampage in a courtroom when the defendant was acquitted--attacking jurors, the judge and the defendant’s family, police said today.

“Tonight all hell broke loose in the courtroom,” Meigs County Sheriff R. L. McKenzie said early today, about three hours after Wednesday night’s melee in the Meigs County Courthouse that sent at least two people to a hospital and prompted police to impose a curfew in this southeast Tennessee town of about 11,000.

The former defendant, Jerry Allen, and his family are in hiding, authorities said.

Allen, 27, had been on trial on a first-degree murder charge in the barroom death of Eddie Anderson, 25, and the wounding of two other men in March. The suspect and the victim are members of Meigs County families that have feuded for several years.

“Around 8:30 p.m. the jury came back with a verdict of not guilty on all three charges,” McKenzie said, “and of course the courtroom was jammed with probably a couple hundred people, and people just didn’t believe the verdict. Everybody was stunned.”

He said members of Anderson’s family tried to attack Judge Eugene Elbem, jurors, and Allen and his family. A police cordon was erected around them.

“It escalated and got into a full-blown riot in the courtroom,” he said.

Members of both families hit each other with chairs, he said.

Allen was rushed from the courtroom into a nearby office.

“He got under a table and started crying and screaming. The crowd was after him,” McKenzie said.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol and up to 100 law officers from surrounding counties helped restore order. Officers escorted the judge to a neighboring county.

County Executive Garland Lankford ordered a 10 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew in effect until Sunday to help avoid further disturbances.