'Victim' charged with murder in 2009 Monroe County, Tenn., campground shooting

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The one-time victim in a 2009 Monroe County, Tenn., campground shooting now faces charges in the same incident, according to a Monroe County indictment issued by a grand jury last week.

Joshua Anderson, 31, of Madisonville, is jailed on a $50,000 bond on charges of second-degree murder and possession of a weapon while under the influence.

His wife at the time, Jamie, has been charged with facilitation to commit second-degree murder, according to court documents. She is being held on a $25,000 bond. Both are at the Monroe County Jail.

Anderson was identified as a victim in a July 2009 incident for which investigators charged Danny Adams, according to newspaper archives. Adams' friend and another victim in the incident, Vince Cole, bled to death on a gravel parking lot at Monroe County's Hidden Lake Campground.

A jury last September decided it was not Adams' fault that Joshua Anderson took a gun and fatally shot Cole. Adams was convicted of simple assault. He is in the process of appealing the conviction before the Tennessee Criminal Court of Appeals.

Joshua Anderson previously testified that the shooting was self defense. However, other witnesses told authorities that Jamie Anderson went to the couple's vehicle to get the gun. Joshua Anderson then reportedly followed Adams and Cole around the building and then drew on them.

"I think it's about time they did something right in this case. It's been a mess," Danny Adams said Monday. "We've been fighting for this a long time."

Adams and Cole's family have been pushing authorities to charge the Andersons in the homicide.

Adams said the couple has ties to the community, and that's why they were not immediately charged.

"With the evidence, he should have never seen the light of day after he shot us. But it's who you know in these little towns. I'm not from here and my family's not from here," Adams said.

When asked why it took so long -- almost three years -- to charge the Andersons, Steve Bebb, 10th Judicial District attorney general, said no one in his office did anything "maliciously wrong."

"I have never said we're perfect. You know, we make mistakes," Bebb said Monday. "But I'll tell you this ... I don't suspect anybody did anything maliciously wrong."

Trishe Williams, Cole's sister-in-law, who has been fighting for the Andersons to have their day in court, will prosecute the case along with Bebb or a member of his office.

"My feeling after talking to everyone was Danny Adams had his day in court. And he was not guilty of criminal negligent homicide," Bebb said. "Josh Anderson is the person who actually fired the shots. I think maybe he deserves his day in court, too.

Williams, he said, "has lived this case."

Anderson has other pending charges, including three counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment but not with weapons counts, in an unrelated case. Bebb said those charges will be presented to the grand jury.

"We expect he'll be indicted," Bebb said.

The Andersons will appear before Criminal Court Judge Amy Reedy on July 15 for an arraignment in Monroe County Criminal Court.

Contact staff writer Beth Burger at bburger@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/abburger.

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