Former Trooper's File Lacks Shootings

Retired Alabama state trooper James Bonard Fowler, 73, listens to a question from the media in front of the Perry County Courthouse after turning himself in Thursday May 10, 2007, in Marion, Ala. for the shooting death of Jimmie Lee Jackson in 1965. A grand jury indicted Fowler on Wednesday for the shooting that became the catalyst for the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march in 1965 and passage of the Voting Rights Act. (AP Photo/Rob Carr) (Rob Carr - AP)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The personnel file of a retired white state trooper charged this week with killing a black man at a 1965 civil rights rally doesn't mention the death at all. Also left out was the killing of another black man a year later that a prosecutor says the trooper also committed on duty.

James Bonard Fowler won high ratings in his job reviews following the fatal shootings until he was fired in 1968 for striking a superior officer, according to records provided by the Highway Patrol at the request of The Associated Press.

Fowler, 73, of Geneva, surrendered Thursday in Marion to face a murder indictment for the shooting death of Jimmie Lee Jackson on Feb. 18, 1965. Fowler, who is free on bond, maintains he shot when Jackson tried to grab his gun during a struggle between marchers and state troopers.

After the shooting, Fowler got another "excellent" rating and a 90 score on his personnel evaluation _ the second highest mark of his career. He also got a 5 percent raise for his good performance.

District Attorney Michael Jackson, who is not related to the victim, said that in probing the four-decade-old case, he learned that Fowler also shot a detainee to death in 1966 at the city jail in Alabaster.

According to news reports in 1966, Nathan Johnson Jr., 34, of Birmingham, who was jailed for DUI, grabbed Fowler's nightstick and hit him on the shoulder and arm before Fowler shot him twice in the chest. Fowler was not prosecuted for the shooting and has maintained it was in self-defense, as was Jimmie Jackson's death, he says.

Fowler continued to get "good" or "excellent" ratings every six months, until Sept. 26, 1968, when his supervisor, Sgt. T.B. Barden, accused him of attacking him at the trooper office in Birmingham because of a bad job evaluation.

Reports from other troopers at the scene said Fowler rammed Barden's head into the windshield of a car, breaking the windshield and knocking Barden unconscious. Barden was treated at a Birmingham hospital.

The troopers fired Fowler, saying he brought "discredit to the organization by his actions." He appealed to the state Personnel Board, which upheld his dismissal.

Fowler's attorney, George Beck, offers a different view of what happened. He said Fowler had taken off time to mourn the death of his brother in Vietnam and there was a disagreement over sick pay.

"That guy called him out and hit him, and I think he hit him back," Beck said.

Fowler grew up in Geneva and played football at Geneva High School. After graduation in 1953, he served in the U.S. Navy until 1957. He attended the University of Alabama from 1958 until 1960, when he dropped out. He worked for Hayes Aircraft in Dothan before getting hired by the state troopers in 1961, according to state personnel records.