A woman charged with killing her boyfriend pled guilty Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter, but her mother, also charged in the death, could possibly face a jury trial.
    Kendra McDaniel, 22, Keith Road, Guyton, and her mother, Katherine Lynn Hodges, 37, Macedonia Road, were both arrested on murder charges after the Sept. 4 shooting death of McDaniel’s boyfriend, 26-year-old Jonathan Sheffield, of Sylvania.
    Bulloch County Superior Court Judge Gates Peed sentenced McDaniel  to 20 years in prison - 15 years to serve and five years on probation, said Ogeechee Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Michael Muldrew.
    McDaniel was originally 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. As part of a plea bargain she admitted guilt to the lesser charge, he said.
    While McDaniel entered a plea, Hodges did not reach an agreement with prosecutors, Muldrew said. “She did not reach a negotiated plea.” Jury selection for the case could begin soon, he said.
    Hodges is charged with murder, aggravated assault, giving a false statement and obstruction.
    Bulloch County Sheriff’s deputies responded to Hodges’ home Sept. 6, 2010, to what was initially reported as an accidental shooting. However, evidence led investigators to the realization that Sheffield’s death was not accidental.
    Responding deputies found Sheffield lying in the yard, suffering from a gunshot wound. 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, according to Bulloch County Sheriff Lynn Anderson.
    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, he said. 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.
    Muldrew said investigations revealed an argument between McDaniel and Sheffield began elsewhere and continued at Hodges’ home, and during the altercation, Hodges “hit him on the head with a metal pipe” and McDaniel shot him.
    Hodges was taken into custody Sept. 9, but a day-long manhunt ensued before officers arrested McDaniel in Effingham Sept. 10.
   
    Holli Deal Bragg maybe reached at (912) 489-9414.