- Police Brutality Watch

The conclusion that Bernard C. Burden's family and friends had hoped state investigators would not reach regarding his hanging death last October is now official. Suicide. The ruling by Kris Sperry, chief medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, answers questions that have been swirling around Grantville since Oct. 13, when Burden was found hanging from a tree, his feet inches from the ground. Burden was African-American, and the circumstances surrounding the death conjured up ugly images of the Old South. Some in the Coweta County town of 1,300 simply didn't believe Burden took his own life. Others criticized Grantville's Police Department, which they said dismissed any notion of foul play before conducting a thorough investigation. On Monday, Coweta Circuit District Attorney Pete Skandalakis said the GBI had found no evidence to indicate that Burden, 21, had been killed by someone else. "It appears, sadly, that Bernard Burden was a young man who felt life had nothing more to offer him," Skandalakis said. Burden's mother, Tamathy Pless, who was highly critical of the police, was aware of the findings but was not available for comment, said her attorney, Graylin Ward. The state's investigation of the death concluded that, among other things, Watson was upset at the prospect of ending his relationship with his girlfriend, Charity Hope Watson. The night before he died, the couple talked for 5 1/2 hours, telephone records show. Watson told investigators that Burden was weeping and told her that "nobody knew how bad he felt." According to an autopsy in the state report, there were no injuries that might have indicated a struggle or foul play. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 8, 2005