Teenager convicted in murder of motherby Al Summers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a two-week trial, members of a Gilmer County criminal jury found Courtney Alexandria Boring, 16, guilty in the Dec. 23, 2005 murder of her mother, Debra Boring. The verdict was handed down last Thursday, Feb. 8, in Gilmer County Superior Court. After the verdict was read, Judge Brenda Weaver sentenced Boring, who was 15 at the time the murder was committed, to a life sentence in prison plus five years for possession of a firearm during the commission of the murder. Appalachian Judicial Circuit assistant district attorneys Mike Baird and Darrell Wilson prosecuted the case for the state. Jeff Floyd and Clint Hooker of the public defenders office represented Boring. Evidence presented during the trial included symbols and writings that were attributed to satanic rituals. During his closing arguments, Baird read a curse found at the crime scene that left some observers in the courtroom saying it made the hair on the backs of their necks stand on end. Gilmer County law enforcement officers were called to a home around 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 23, in response to shots fired. When they arrived, they found the body of Debra Boring, 44, just inside the doorway. It was determined at the Georgia State Crime Lab that she had died due to a gunshot wound to the back of the head. A rifle was found nearby. After a lengthy investigation conducted by detectives from the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Department and agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Courtney Boring was arrested March 6, 2006, and charged with the murder of her mother. Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney Joe Hendricks told the Times-Courier, “We are very pleased with the jury’s verdict in this case. I am especially proud of the hard work and extraordinary effort by assistant district attorneys Mike Baird and Darrell Wilson during the prosecution of the case. “From the efforts of detectives R.T. Henry and Carol Daves of the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Department’s Criminal Investigation Division right on to those involved in the prosecution and sentencing phases, everyone is to be commended for their efforts,” said Hendricks. The district attorney added, “This was an incredibly difficult circumstantial evidence case, and my office devoted a substantial amount of time and effort to see that there was justice for Debra Boring’s murder.” |