Murphy – Before ever taking a seat in the jurors’ box Thursday morning, the group asked if they could skip their morning break in favor of hearing testimony without pause until lunch. It was around 9:45 a.m. and events from the prior evening had prevented testimony from starting on time, though jurors did not know this when they made their request.
Perhaps they were bored and wanted the trial to be over as soon as possible. Jurors had already sat through a lengthy selection process and full day of trial testimony, in which they heard from the alleged victim in the case. Or maybe they felt they had enough information to judge guilt or innocence.
However, if jurors had known what was happening behind the scenes, they may not have been bored and may not have been so quick to judge the case. The past week had all the elements of a Hollywood movie: an arrest the night before testimony began, an angry outburst toward prosecutors, repeated clashes between two families, emotional testimony and accusations of lies.
James Allen Bass, 23, was on trial facing rape, kidnapping and assault charges stemming from five days in December 2018. Bass is actually charged with similar offenses in two additional cases that have yet to go to trial. An alleged victim from a separate case testified in this trial last week after prosecutors convinced a judge the two cases are similar enough to show that Bass has a specific modus operandi.
The night before trial testimony began, the alleged victim in this case, 19-year-old Madison Abernethy, was arrested for not appearing in court pursuant to a subpoena. The night she was arrested, Abernethy reportedly sent a text message to assistant district attorney Kimberly Harris stating, “I can’t do this anymore. I don’t remember. Let me go. I just want to be left alone.”
Abernethy appeared before a judge the next morning to explain why she didn’t show up to court.
“I don’t understand why y’all are doing this to me. I don’t deserve this,” Abernethy cried before yelling and pointing at the lead prosecutor in the case. “I’m (expletive) pissed. ... This is your fault.”
Later in the day, after Abernethy cleaned up and changed clothes, she testified in front of the jury, often pausing for an extended period of time before answering a question. She kept her back toward Bass during most of her testimony, and at one point asked the judge to prevent his relatives from peering into the courtroom through the glass windows.
Abernethy told jurors Bass raped her at an apartment in Andrews that he shared with his mother and younger brother around Christmas 2018, when she was 16 years old. She said Bass held her “against my will” over the course of at least four days, even as they visited various businesses and traveled across state lines.
Abernethy testified that Bass didn’t bathe for at least three days while refusing to let her leave the apartment, and she briefly escaped when he finally took a shower. She told jurors she ran through the woods and was headed to a relative’s house when Bass pulled up beside her about 15 minutes after the escape, threatening to shoot her with a shotgun if she didn’t get in his car.
She said Bass cut her with a knife while in the car and stopped the vehicle a short time later to fire the shotgun multiple times at a random person who was “in his way.” Abernethy said they later visited a gas station and a donut shop, but she didn’t seek help from patrons of those businesses because the shotgun was wrapped in a blanket in the backseat.
“I was just scared,” Abernethy said when defense attorney Rich Cassady questioned why she never asked anyone for help.
The pair eventually made it to Bass’ grandmother’s home in Georgia, where another altercation took place, she said. Abernethy said she was in a bedroom watching television when Bass suddenly burst through the door. She told jurors Bass punched her, cut her hair, threw items at her and smashed a toilet tank cover across her body. She said Bass also tried to stab her, but his grandmother intervened.
However, Abernethy’s account of events is largely contradicted by testimony from Bass’ family. Bass’ 16-year-old brother, Jonathan Bass, testified that he was in the living room of the Andrews apartment playing a video game and talking with Abernethy when she left and walked into the bedroom that contained a bathroom where James Bass was taking a shower.
Jonathan told jurors Abernethy looked at his brother’s phone, then started “arguing about something to herself” as she walked out of the house. Jonathan said the days leading up to that were “pleasant” and “happy,” as Abernethy hung out with the family over the Christmas holiday. He testified that he never heard Abernethy ask for help, never saw his brother punch her and never saw her in an undressed state.
Bass’ other sibling, James Edward Bass III, made similar statements. He testified that Abernethy was upset Bass was talking to other girls, so she took his phone before walking out of the house on the day she claims she escaped.
Mary Jordan, Bass’ 73-year-old paternal grandmother, testified that the young couple arrived at her house around midday Dec. 26, 2018. She said Bass and Abernethy were upbeat and got along “very good, like a boyfriend and girlfriend does.” She said Abernethy was “very sweet,” and she taught the young girl how to cook peach cobbler.
However, the situation changed overnight. Jordan said she awoke the next morning to a noise and found Bass and Abernethy in a bedroom “throwing shampoo and conditioner” at each other. During the argument, Abernethy jumped on top of Bass, and the pair started tangling.
“They were each hitting each other,” Jordan said when Harris pressed her about whether Bass was punching Abernethy.
Jordan testified that she couldn’t get them to stop fighting, so she threatened to call the cops. Bass then grabbed his suitcase and left the house, knocking the phone out of her hand as he passed by.
“He just didn’t want me to call the police,” Jordan said, adding that Abernethy willingly followed Bass out the door. “I told her she didn’t have to go if she didn’t want to. She said, ‘I want to go with Jimmy.’ ”
Jordan said she found the pair sleeping in a car parked outside her house the next morning.
“They were in the backseat wrapped up like teenagers do; couldn’t keep their hands off each other,” Jordan said. “She said she was kicked out of her house, that’s why she was staying with Jimmy.”
Cassady argued that Abernethy remained with Bass over the Christmas holiday of her own free will.
“There is no kidnapping,” Cassady told jurors. “She had too many opportunities to seek help.”
Abernethy sought treatment for physical injuries at the hospital on Dec. 28, 2018. A nurse who treated Abernethy testified that some of the bruises seen in photographs shared in court were likely from injuries 7-14 days old. Cassady argued that Abernethy suffered the injuries before meeting with Bass on Dec. 23.
“If you’re hit with a porcelain tank lid, you’re not gonna have seven-day old bruises on your back,” Cassady said.
While at the hospital, Abernethy never mentioned anything about being raped. Abernethy was also interviewed by police in Georgia and North Carolina and never told anyone she was sexually assaulted.
Abernethy said she never told hospital staff that she was raped because of “inhumane” and “rude” treatment. She claimed one female doctor told her, “It’s not my job to be sympathetic.”
She further testified that she initially withheld the rape allegation from law enforcement officials because they are “uncaring” and untrustworthy. “People play you all the time, that’s their job,” Abernethy said.
Abernethy mentioned the rape allegation for the first time in an unrecorded interview with law enforcement that took place April 15, 2019, at the request of Harris, who attended the meeting along with Detective Roger Williams of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. Harris requested the meeting after Williams told her he felt Abernethy had not disclosed everything to him in a previous meeting.
Williams testified that he did not take notes during the second meeting, which was Abernethy’s fourth interview with law enforcement following the alleged sex assault. He said it is not uncommon for victims to initially withhold details of sex assault from police.
“Females and kids are sometimes reluctant to tell males intimate details of rape,” Williams said.
Cassady argued that several details of Abernethy’s story “doesn’t make sense.” He argued that Abernethy lied to jurors because she has a motive of her own.
“Everything Madison Abernethy said was for your benefit because she wants something,” Cassady told jurors. “She wants the conviction of this man.”
Less than two weeks before trial, Abernethy shared another detail about the incident that resulted in additional charges. Abernethy told police Bass’ mother, Bobbi Jo Bass, walked into the bedroom while he raped her at the Andrews apartment and pulled his younger brother out of the room.
Abernethy disclosed those details to prosecutors in a meeting earlier this month. As a result, police arrested Bobbi Jo Bass on July 9, charging her with aiding and abetting.
Abernethy claims that she previously shared that detail, even though no one made note of it prior. She testified that she had “smoked a blunt” before meeting with prosecutors and re-sharing information about Bobbi Jo again.
“Welcome to the MeToo movement, where we don’t need evidence,” Cassady said during closing arguments before the judge struck his comments from the record.
Jurors were still deliberating the case when the Cherokee Scout went to press Tuesday morning.