Local man freed
A Polk County man who was being held at the jail on gun charges and remains a person of interest in an April murder was released last week after the charge was recalled by police.
Roe Dale Bowman, 54, of a Hightower Road address, was originally charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon or first offender when he was jailed on May 12 by Polk County Police officers. He was released on May 16 after it came to light that Bowman had every right to own those firearms.
Bowman, who received a pardon in 2013 on a 2001 conviction for aggravated assault, had his gun rights restored and remains a legally registered gun permit holder in the state of Georgia.
Louise McRae, Bowman’s sister, contacted the Standard Journal with information about his status as a gun permit holder on Tuesday afternoon. It was confirmed by officials at the state’s Pardons and Parole offices later in the day.
When asked about the pardon, Polk County Police Chief Kenny Dodd had been unaware of the March 11, 2013 issuance and later released a statement explaining what happened.
The statement said that Bowman’s criminal history had been checked by detectives during the investigation into the homicide of Tammy Wolfe, and that they discovered the aggravated assault conviction in the local court records.
However, state officials explained that because the pardon paperwork didn’t have any criminal charge in the Georgia Crime Information Center for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s data system, the pardon didn’t show up on a criminal background check.
“Mr. Bowman claimed that he was pardoned of the offense and had a legal right to carry a firearm,” the statement said. “This information should have also been on his criminal history but was not.”
After being provided a copy of the pardon, he said the department moved swiftly to recall the warrants and have Bowman released from jail.
Dodd later said Bowman remains a person of interest in the case, which continues after more than a month after Tammy Wolfe was found dead by staff at Polk Memory Gardens in early April.
McRae said that her family had hired local attorney Wright Gammon of Gammon, Anderson and McFall to represent Bowman in court proceedings.
Gammon said Tuesday afternoon before his release that he was filing motions for a habeas corpus violation and emergency bail proceedings, and had called Bowman’s time in jail “illegal.”
Bowman was originally arrested on the gun charge after police saw the previous conviction in local court records and sought a search warrant for his home while he was out.
Police found a handgun, then after searching his truck while at the department for an interview found a second handgun.
It turned out Bowman had the gun carry permit in his wallet at the jail the entire time he was in custody.