Augusta Georgia: Metro:Defendant's father admits lies 10/12/01

Defendant's father admits lies

Web posted Friday, October 12, 2001

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Special Section: The David Holt case

By Sandy Hodson
Staff Writer

Sitting in the courtroom in front of his son and five co-defendants Thursday, Carlston Coleman Sr. testified he had lied to investigators when he claimed his son had implicated himself in a double homicide.

Carlston Coleman Sr., father of a defendant, answers questions on the witness stand from District Attorney Danny Craig in the racketeering trial. ANNETTE M. DROWLETTE/STAFF
''I was only telling him what he wanted to hear," the elder Mr. Coleman testified Thursday about his meeting with Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Steve Foster.

But Agent Foster testified that the senior Mr. Coleman was the one who called the GBI office in 1997 and again in 1999 to talk about the July 24, 1997, slayings of Manuel B. Arroyo, 19, and Ryan J. Singh, 21.

Both men testified Thursday in Richmond County Superior Court in the massive racketeering trial for Carlston W. Coleman, 30; Ronald Coleman Jr., 29; Kendric Dudley, 30; Ronnie B. Overton Jr., 22; Charles D. Winters, 29; and Jarman L. Harold, 25. Each defendant has pleaded innocent to the charge of violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law.

Part of the RICO charge concerns what allegedly happened in Augusta before Mr. Arroyo and Mr. Singh were found dead in the trunk of a burnt car in Warren County.

In May 1999, when the elder Mr. Coleman was in jail facing federal tax fraud charges along with his son and Ronald Coleman, he told Agent Foster that his son had been talking about the double homicide, the agent testified.

The senior Mr. Coleman related that his son said Ronald Coleman and Mr. Winters believed Mr. Arroyo and Mr. Singh set them up to be robbed in Atlanta and the men plotted to kill the pair at Carlston Coleman's Augusta apartment, Agent Foster testified. He also quoted his son as saying others beat the two young men in another Augusta apartment and then took them to Warren County and killed them, Agent Foster testified.

The senior Mr. Coleman testified Thursday that his son never told him any of those details. All of his information came from the newspaper, others and Agent Foster himself, Mr. Coleman testified.

In addition to the RICO charge, Carlston Coleman and Ronald Coleman, who are not related, face several charges in the June 21, 1998, abduction of Sam's Club Manager David Holt, 45. Mr. Holt's body was found in the trunk of his burning car in Aiken County.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or shodson@augustachronicle.com.