A woman charged in the Sept. 4, 2010 murder of her boyfriend seeks immunity during a hearing today at the Bulloch County Judicial Annex.
Kendra McDaniel, 21, Keith Road, Guyton, is charged along with her mother, Katherine Lynn Hodges, 37, Macedonia Road, with shooting Jonathan Sheffield, a Sylvania man who was 26 years old.
Ogeechee Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Michael Muldrew said McDaniel's attorney filed a motion seeking immunity from charges, claiming she acted in self defense. The hearing before a Superior Court judge is slated for around 1:30 p.m. today, he said.
McDaniel is represented by Statesboro attorney Michael Classens.
Bulloch County Sheriff's investigators first took Hodges into custody Sept. 9, but a day-long manhunt ensued before officers arrested McDaniel in Effingham Sept. 10.
Bulloch County Sheriff's deputies responded Saturday, Sept. 6, to Hodges' Macedonia Road home in Clito, where they found Sheffield lying in the yard, suffering from a gunshot wound.
The shooting was first reported as an accident, said Bulloch County Sheriff Lynn Anderson.
Bulloch County EMS rushed Sheffield to East Georgia Regional Medical Center, and he was airlifted to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, where he died of his wounds a short time after arrival, he said.
Anderson said an autopsy performed at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Coastal Regional Crime Lab in Savannah resulted in findings that Sheffield's death was homicide by manner of gunshot. Evidence also gathered by investigators determined that the story of the shooting being accidental was not true, he said.
Investigator Bill Black and other Bulloch County Sheriff's investigators and deputies conducted follow-up investigations, including interviews and serving a search warrant, and secured "probable cause to issue arrest warrants," Anderson said.
Hodges was charged with murder, aggravated assault, giving a false statement and obstruction.
McDaniel was charged with murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a first offender, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, terroristic threats, and giving a false statement, Anderson said.
Both Hodges and McDaniel are being held without bond in the Bulloch County Jail.
Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at 912-489-9414.