The Bass family (sans James Allen Bass) poses with the defense team following a not guilty verdict last week. From left: James Edward Bass III, legal assistant Becca Thomas, defense attorney Rich Cassady, Mary Jordan, Bobbi Jo Bass, Nancy Perkins and Zulmy Bass.
Murphy – Members of James Allen Bass’ family wept as the court clerk read the jury’s verdicts. They had waited 705 days for this moment.
After deliberating for about four hours, a jury of seven women and five men found Bass not guilty of rape and kidnapping offenses, while judging him guilty of simple assault. Bass was accused of sexually assaulting Madison Abernethy while holding her against her will over the course of five days in December 2018.
The judge sentenced Bass to serve 30 days in county jail but suspended the sentence, meaning he won’t have to serve time for this conviction as long as he obeys the terms of probation for a year. The judge also lowered Bass’ bond regarding a separate case that was previewed at this trial after prosecutors convinced the judge the two cases are similar enough to show Bass has a specific modus operandi.
Bass posted bond later that evening and hugged his family for the first time in nearly two years.
“My place was filled with hugs and love from many friends and family,” his mother, Bobbi Jo Bass, told the Cherokee Scout over the weekend. “It was such a blessing.”
At trial, Abernethy testified that Bass raped her at an apartment in Andrews that he shared with his mother and younger brother around Christmas 2018. She said Bass held her against her will over the course of several days, even as they visited grocery stores, a gas station and a donut shop.
Abernethy told jurors she briefly escaped at one point, but was forced back into captivity at gunpoint. She said Bass later assaulted her again at his grandmother’s house in Georgia.
However, Abernethy’s account of events was largely contradicted by testimony from Bass’ family. One of his brothers testified that Bass was in the shower when Abernethy looked at his phone, then started “arguing about something to herself” as she walked out of the house.
Bass’ other sibling told jurors something similar, stating that Abernethy was upset because Bass was talking to other girls when she took his phone and walked out of the house the day she claims she briefly escaped.
Bass' grandmother testified that the young couple got along “very good like a boyfriend and girlfriend does” when they arrived at her house on Dec. 26, 2018. However, she awoke the next morning and found Bass and Abernethy in a bedroom “throwing shampoo and conditioner.” During the argument, she said, Abernethy jumped on top of Bass, and the pair started hitting each other.
Bass’ defense attorney, Rich Cassady, told jurors Abernethy’s story doesn’t make sense and argued that she remained with his client over the Christmas holiday of her own free will. He contends that Abernethy lied to jurors because she wanted Bass to be convicted.
“It was a long, hard-fought battle," Cassady told Bass' family outside the courtroom after the verdict. “They listened to me. This Madison Abernethy case is over forevermore. But he still has serious charges hanging over his head.”
Bass is also charged with similar offenses in two additional cases that have yet to go to trial. He is charged with statutory rape stemming from an incident in July 2018, and he is accused of kidnapping and raping Melinda Wilkes in spring 2018.
Wilkes testified at this trial after prosecutors convinced the judge that she and Abernethy had similar experiences with Bass. Wilkes told jurors Bass lured her to the apartment in Andrews under the pretense of retrieving her class ring and was not allowed to leave.
Wilkes said she previously dated Bass but left him prior to this encounter “because he was beating me.” She testified that Bass threatened to “use his shotgun on me” when she went to retrieve her class ring following the breakup and held her against her will.
Similar to Abernethy, Wilkes said she was forced to remain with Bass over the course of several days, even as they traveled across state lines. Wilkes told jurors that she, Bass and two other people “smoked weed” while swimming in Georgia, and that she felt “very scared” because she “was not free to go.”
Wilkes testified that Bass later beat her after he discovered she was trying to text her fiancé for help. Wilkes said she awoke in the Andrews apartment as Bass’ mother was cleaning her wounds from the alleged beating. She said she again lost consciousness and later awoke as Bass sexually assaulted her in his bedroom.
Wilkes said Bobbi Jo Bass later took her to the hospital and forced her to tell medical staff a “fake story” regarding her injuries. She said she was then taken back to the Andrews apartment, where she was forced to stay until her friends “rescued” her.
However, hospital records contradict Wilkes’ account, showing that she was alone when she initially relayed a “fake story” to medical staff. Moreover, two witnesses testified that Wilkes wanted to remain at Bass’ apartment the day her friends showed up to “rescue” her.
Holly Harper, the former property manager for the Andrews apartment complex where Bass lived, testified that Wilkes was telling people conflicting stories, which created a scene. She said Wilkes’ friends believed she was being held against her will. However, Wilkes was “actually requesting to stay” when Harper visited the apartment to intervene in the matter.
“I decided to have [Wilkes] removed from the property because that’s where the problem lied,” Harper told jurors. “If she’s telling one person one thing and telling me the opposite, I feel like she needed to go because she’s causing the problem.”
A former resident of the building corroborated that account, testifying that she even heard Wilkes tell police she didn’t want to leave the apartment.
Cassady argued that prosecutors’ decision to use Wilkes as a witness in this trial was “a testament to how strong the state thinks its case is with Madison Abernethy.” He further alleged that the two girls “came up with these stories together” after meeting each other in court.
While Bass awaits trial for the other two cases against him, his mother awaits her day in court as well. In addition to the allegation of coercing Wilkes, Bobbi Jo Bass is accused of aiding and abetting her son in the rape of Abernethy.
Even though a jury found Bass not guilty of raping and kidnapping Abernethy, prosecutors could try his mother for the aiding and abetting charge. However, that would require them to again rely on testimony from the victim, who made it clear during this trial that she did not want to be in court.
"We're evaluating [the Abernethy] case at this time," District Attorney Ashley Welch told the Scout after the verdict last week.
Bobbi Jo said she and her family have never given up, and they continually pray for the right outcome.
“To be falsely accused and slandered is horrible,” Bobbi Jo said. “ ‘God has his reasons,’ my mother would say, and it just made me stronger and brought me closer to God when I never thought I could get closer.”