Perry County Circuit Judge Don McMillan issued a second bench warrant on charges of failure to appear against defendant Gerald Lee Hogue on Feb. 25. Hogue was set for jury trial on Monday, Feb. 24, but did not appear in court.
Hogue is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied building, two counts of discharging a firearm into an unoccupied building, a count of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, certain persons forbidden in possession of a firearm, two second-degree counts of receiving stolen property, and one count of second-degree possession of marijuana. He was among the three men from Missouri arrested in 2021 for shooting at two people in Marion. Authorities described the men as “hit men” at the time of the arrest.
It is at least the second time the Court has issued a failure to appear warrant from the bench against Hogue, who was arrested on the charges on April 7, 2021 after leading police on a chase that police said spanned nearly ten miles. After his 2021 arrest, he was booked into the custody of the Perry County Jail and held on a bond of $315,000.00.
Court records indicate Hogue made bond almost two years later, on March 13, 2023. After that time, filings indicate that he left the state of Alabama and traveled back to Missouri. Filed along with a Motion to Continue Hogue’s attorney filed July 13, 2023 was a supporting exhibit saying Hogue had made an outpatient hospital visit on April 30, 2023 and been treated for “acute [or] chronic respiratory failure with hypoxia and hypercapnia.” The filing said Hogue was scheduled for unspecified surgery on August 1, 2023.
The case was set for jury trial on July 22, 2024. Hogue did not appear in court for the trial. McMillan issued a bench warrant for Hogue on that day on charges of failure to appear, also revoking his bond.
After a number of scheduling changes, the case was set for trial to begin on Feb. 24 of this year, but Hogue again failed to appear.
In other related cases, Hogue’s fellow defendant, Christopher Roberts, is set for trial in March of this year. Roberts was released on bond Feb. 10, 2023.
