Why Wasn't Elijah Graham Indicted?

Hershel Dale Graham

Why wasn’t Elijah Graham indicted for assault against David Martin Andrasik? This is the question many readers have asked. We can offer only theories.

We’ve determined the younger Graham lacked one month being 18 when he committed the assault against David. If he were to be indicted, he would probably receive youthful offender status and his conviction, if any, be sealed. That begs the question should he have been indicted for helping disable David before his father Hershel Graham shot the young Red Bay father dead? We’ll inject here that if Elijah had been the one to pull the trigger he would almost certainly have been tried as an adult. The fact is Elijah, no matter how sinister his intentions, would have been charged with only assault if the situation had gone no further.

The defense would argue Elijah was an abused child—a motherless son who was not supervised by his father...or worse, whose own father abetted the under-age young man in purchasing cigarettes and tattoos. Should the elder Graham be convicted, Elijah will then be a de facto orphan, a fact that doesn’t bode well for his future.

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We’ve also been asked why the TimesDaily has published a somewhat one-sided version of the altercation that led to David Andrasik’s death. We rarely defend the journalism on the TD, but its writers can only publish the information they’ve been provided by the Red Bay police or the Franklin County District Attorney’s office. It’s certainly more than likely the writers at our local rag have no idea that David stopped because a dog belonging to the Grahams ran in front of his car.

We have to wonder if Red Bay officials are now enforcing the leash ordinance...or are they once again turning a blind eye?

Shoalanda