McINTOSH, Ala. — A Clarke County man is facing a felony accusation in Washington County Circuit Court after a grand jury returned an indictment charging him with making a terrorist threat, an offense that prosecutors say grew out of a telephone call to a McIntosh daycare center in which he warned that he would use a gun against one of the center’s employees.
Prosecutors identify the defendant as Vincent Black Jr., 26, of Jackson, and say he is charged with first-degree making a terrorist threat. The Washington County grand jury indicted him on Sept. 3, according to court documents. He was arrested on March 5, two days after the call at the center of the case.
Black has not been convicted of anything. An indictment is a charging document, not a verdict, and under both the United States and Alabama constitutions he is presumed innocent unless and until the state proves the charge beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Every description of events in this article comes from the accusations contained in court filings and from what investigators and prosecutors have alleged. None of it has been tested by cross-examination before a trial jury.
What the court filings allege
According to court documents, Black telephoned Genesis Academy in McIntosh on March 3 and spoke with a school administrator. During that call, the filings say, he told the administrator that he would harm one of the center’s employees with a gun.
The filings go on to say that the employee who was named in the threat left the daycare, and that the employee feared for the safety of the children at the facility. That detail matters to the shape of the case: charges of this kind generally turn not only on the words a person is accused of using, but also on the effect those words are alleged to have had on the people who heard them and on the setting in which they were said.
Investigators say Black later added a further statement, telling others that he would arrive at 6 a.m. and, in his reported phrasing, “let everyone watch” what he did to the employee in front of the children and staff. Prosecutors treat the specificity of that alleged follow-up — a stated hour, a stated audience and a stated location — as significant, because specificity is one of the factors that separates an alleged true threat from an outburst.
The court records available do not describe any weapon being recovered, do not indicate that anyone was physically injured, and do not say that Black ever appeared at the facility. They also do not state whether the daycare closed, altered its schedule or took other protective steps. Readers should not assume facts that the record does not supply.
Two counties, one case
The geography of the case explains why a Clarke County man is answering to a Washington County court. Jackson, where Black lives according to prosecutors, sits in Clarke County along the Tombigbee River. McIntosh, where Genesis Academy is located, lies to the south in Washington County. In Alabama, a criminal case is ordinarily brought in the county where the offense is alleged to have occurred rather than where the accused person lives, which is why the indictment came from a Washington County grand jury and why the case is proceeding in Washington County Circuit Court.
For families in the small communities strung along the U.S. 43 corridor — Jackson, Wagarville, McIntosh, Chatom, Citronelle just across the Mobile County line — those county boundaries are a daily fact of life. People routinely live in one county, work in another and send their children to child care in a third. A case like this one is a reminder that the courthouse handling a matter is determined by where something is alleged to have happened, not by a defendant’s mailing address.
What an indictment is — and what it is not
Because the word “indicted” carries weight in ordinary conversation that it does not carry in law, it is worth setting out plainly what happened on Sept. 3.
A grand jury is a panel of citizens drawn from the county’s jury pool. It sits in closed session and hears evidence presented by prosecutors. Its job is not to decide whether a person is guilty. Its job is to decide whether there is probable cause — a reasonable basis — to believe that a crime was committed and that the person named committed it. If a majority of the grand jurors agree that the threshold is met, the panel returns what is called a true bill, and the resulting document is the indictment.
Several features of that process are frequently misunderstood:
- The proceeding is one-sided by design. Prosecutors present their evidence; the defense ordinarily does not appear, does not cross-examine witnesses and does not put on a case.
- The standard of proof is far lower than the standard at trial. Probable cause is a preliminary screening threshold. Conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt to the unanimous satisfaction of a trial jury.
- Grand jury proceedings are secret. The public does not learn what witnesses said, and the panel’s vote count is not disclosed.
- An indictment carries no penalty of its own. It is the formal instrument that allows a felony case to move forward in circuit court.
Put simply, the grand jury’s action on Sept. 3 means the case will proceed. It does not mean the state has proved anything, and it is not a preview of how a trial jury would see the evidence.
The charge itself
Prosecutors say the charge is first-degree making a terrorist threat. The name of the offense can be misleading to readers who associate the word “terrorist” with organized political violence. In Alabama’s criminal code, the threat offenses are ordinary charging categories that cover threats of violence directed at people or places, and they are divided into degrees according to the seriousness of the conduct alleged and the circumstances surrounding it. The first degree is the more serious classification.
The available records identify the charge but do not set out the state’s full theory of the case, and this newspaper is not in a position to state what penalty range would apply on conviction or what enhancements, if any, prosecutors might pursue. Those are matters that will be addressed in court filings and, ultimately, by a judge.
What can be said generally is that a threat prosecution typically requires the state to prove more than that unpleasant or angry words were spoken. Prosecutors normally must establish what was said, that the accused person said it, and that it was said with the required mental state — that is, that the words were meant as a threat or were made with reckless disregard for the fear they would cause — rather than being idle talk, hyperbole or a misunderstood remark. Defense lawyers in threat cases frequently contest exactly those elements: who spoke, what was actually said, in what tone and with what intent.
Six months between arrest and indictment
The interval between Black’s March 5 arrest and the Sept. 3 indictment is not unusual, and it does not by itself indicate that anything went wrong or that the case is weak. Felony matters in Alabama commonly begin with an arrest on a warrant or complaint and then wait for a grand jury term. Grand juries do not sit continuously; they convene on a schedule, and a case that is charged in the spring may not reach a panel until later in the year. In the meantime, investigators complete their work, records are gathered and prosecutors decide what charges, if any, to present.
The documents available do not state whether Black has been held in custody since March, whether he was released on bond, or what conditions of release, if any, a court may have imposed. They likewise do not identify defense counsel or record any plea.
What happens next
The ordinary path for an indicted felony case in Alabama circuit court runs roughly as follows. The defendant is arraigned, meaning the charge is formally read and a plea is entered; in the overwhelming majority of cases at this stage, that plea is not guilty. The court then sets a schedule. Both sides exchange discovery, which is the evidence each side may use. The defense may file pre-trial motions, which can include motions to suppress evidence or to dismiss all or part of the indictment. The state and the defense may discuss a resolution. If no resolution is reached, the case is set for trial before a jury.
Cases can also end in ways that never reach a jury. Charges are sometimes reduced, sometimes dismissed and sometimes resolved through a negotiated plea. South Alabama News will report the outcome of this case as it develops, whatever that outcome turns out to be.
What the record does not establish
Careful reading matters in a case built on words. The court filings describe a call, a statement to an administrator and a later statement about showing up at 6 a.m. They do not establish that any of it is true. They establish only what the state contends and what it will attempt to prove.
Readers should also be cautious about drawing conclusions regarding people who are not charged. The employee named in the alleged threat is a victim in the state’s telling, not a participant in any wrongdoing. Genesis Academy is described in the filings as the place that received the call. Nothing in the available record suggests any failing by the center or its staff, and the administrator who is said to have taken the call appears in the documents as a witness.
Why threats against child care settings are handled seriously
Threats directed at schools and child care facilities occupy a particular place in the criminal law and in the practices of law enforcement, because the people inside cannot protect themselves and because the disruption caused by a threat is real whether or not the person making it ever intended to act. Child care centers in Alabama are licensed and regulated by the state, and centers are expected to have plans for emergencies. A phone call of the kind alleged here forces a facility to make immediate decisions about staffing, about contacting parents and about whether to remain open, all before anyone can know whether the threat is genuine.
That is the practical reason such calls are investigated promptly and charged as felonies when the evidence supports it. It is also a reason for the public to be careful about speculation. In a county the size of Washington County, a case like this circulates quickly by word of mouth and on social media, often in versions that add details no document supports. The court file is the record. Everything else is rumor.
Following the case
Circuit court proceedings in Alabama are, as a general matter, open to the public, and case dockets are maintained by the circuit clerk’s office in the county where the case is pending — here, Washington County. Court dates are subject to change, often at short notice, and members of the public who wish to attend a hearing should confirm the schedule with the clerk’s office before traveling.
Anyone who has information about a threat to a school or child care facility is encouraged to report it to local law enforcement rather than to circulate it online, where it can spread in distorted form and complicate an investigation.
Black is presumed innocent. The charge described here is an allegation, and it remains an allegation unless a jury finds otherwise or the defendant admits it in open court. This newspaper will update its reporting as the case moves through the Washington County Circuit Court.