THOMASVILLE — A convicted stalker let a Thomas County Superior Court judge know Thursday what he thought of the sentence handed down.

“You gotta be kidding!” Francis Joseph Hennessey Jr. told Judge Frank Horkan upon sentencing. Three Thomas County Sheriff’s Office deputies surrounded Hennessey after the outburst.

A jury deliberated 10 minutes Feb. 2 before finding Hennessey, 62, guilty of aggravated stalking.

Horkan sentenced Hennessey to 10 years in prison, four to serve. He also must undergo counseling and have no contact with the victims.

Horkan also banished Hennessey from the Southern Judicial Circuit.

The father of three females Hennessey stalked, along with one of the victims, testified during the sentencing proceeding.

Hennessey, a Boston resident, has been held in the Thomas County Jail since his arrest in late June 2005.

During an hour of testimony in the February trial, the prosecution maintained Hennessey violated conditions of a Brooks County bond when he approached a victim at Wal-Mart in Thomasville in June and asked her about her hair color.

Hennessey was charged March 25, 2005, with criminal trespass after he went to the Dixie home of the victims’ family.

The victims’ father told Hennessey repeatedly to stay way from his daughters and not to go on his property.

One of the young women testified in February that Hennessey told her she was crazy, that she was in rebellion and needed to talk to him.

He told a Thomasville police officer who responded to the Wal-Mart incident that Hennessey told him two of the women “were born to be his wife.”

In a statement to police, Hennessey said he was supposed to move to another daughter when one became rebellious, a police officer testified last month.

Also sentenced Thursday was James Huxford Snooks, 24, Thomasville. On a conviction of meth possession, Snooks was sentenced to five years probation, a $1,000 fine, 80 hours community service, surrender driver’s license and allow searches.

Horkan sentenced Harold David Windham Jr. on a robbery conviction to six years in prison, after serving 24 months serve 48 months on probation and restitution of $1,192.92.



Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 220.

patti.dozier@gaflnews.com



THOMASVILLE — A convicted stalker let a Thomas County Superior Court judge know Thursday what he thought of the sentence handed down.

“You gotta be kidding!” Francis Joseph Hennessey Jr. told Judge Frank Horkan upon sentencing. Three Thomas County Sheriff’s Office deputies surrounded Hennessey after the outburst.

A jury deliberated 10 minutes Feb. 2 before finding Hennessey, 62, guilty of aggravated stalking.

Horkan sentenced Hennessey to 10 years in prison, four to serve. He also must undergo counseling and have no contact with the victims.

Horkan also banished Hennessey from the Southern Judicial Circuit.

The father of three females Hennessey stalked, along with one of the victims, testified during the sentencing proceeding.

Hennessey, a Boston resident, has been held in the Thomas County Jail since his arrest in late June 2005.

During an hour of testimony in the February trial, the prosecution maintained Hennessey violated conditions of a Brooks County bond when he approached a victim at Wal-Mart in Thomasville in June and asked her about her hair color.

Hennessey was charged March 25, 2005, with criminal trespass after he went to the Dixie home of the victims’ family.

The victims’ father told Hennessey repeatedly to stay way from his daughters and not to go on his property.

One of the young women testified in February that Hennessey told her she was crazy, that she was in rebellion and needed to talk to him.

He told a Thomasville police officer who responded to the Wal-Mart incident that Hennessey told him two of the women “were born to be his wife.”

In a statement to police, Hennessey said he was supposed to move to another daughter when one became rebellious, a police officer testified last month.

Also sentenced Thursday was James Huxford Snooks, 24, Thomasville. On a conviction of meth possession, Snooks was sentenced to five years probation, a $1,000 fine, 80 hours community service, surrender driver’s license and allow searches.

Horkan sentenced Harold David Windham Jr. on a robbery conviction to six years in prison, after serving 24 months serve 48 months on probation and restitution of $1,192.92.



Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 220.