Woman accused in grandson’s death testifies


March 14, 2013 at 11:18a.m.

Woman accused in grandson’s death testifies

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A 75-year-old Michigan woman who fatally shot her teenage grandson is returning to the witness stand today for more testimony in her first-degree murder trial.

Sandra Layne often cried Wednesday as she described the shooting last spring at her West Bloomfield Township home. She told jurors that she feared 17-year-old Jonathan Hoffman and his friends and had purchased a gun a month before the fatal incident.

Prosecutors wondered why Layne simply didn’t kick Hoffman out of her home if she was so afraid of him. Cross-examination resumes today.

Layne faces mandatory life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder. She says she shot Hoffman after he kicked her and demanded cash and her car to get away from Michigan.