UPDATE: Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill has been indicted by a Gwinnett Grand Jury on charges related to the May accidental shooting of Gwenevere McCord.
He was indicted on one count of reckless conduct, a misdemeanor.
Hill, who gave a statement to the grand jury, answered questions and reenacted the shooting using his attorney as the victim, refused to talk to reporters and could not be reached for comment later in the day. He left the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center with a cell phone pressed to his ear, and drove off in a black Suburban.
“He didn’t seem nervous or panicky,” said Danny Porter, the Gwinnett County District Attorney. “He wasn’t cocky or arrogant.
Last month, McCord applied for a $25,855-a-year job as a clerk in the Clayton sheriff’s department. She has one relative who is employed by a contractor at the jail. In her application, McCord said she learned about the position on the county’s website.
Neither McCord nor members of her family could be reached for comment Thursday. Porter said she has made a “startling recovery.”
“If you hadn’t known, you would’ve never known she’d been shot,” he said.
More information is available here.
ORIGINAL STORY: Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill on Thursday gave a statement to a Gwinnett grand jury considering indicting him for reckless conduct after he shot a friend earlier this year.
Hill, wearing a three-piece suit with a cell phone pressed to his ear, did not answer questions from the press before or after the grand jury deliberations. Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said he spoke for about 15 minutes from prepared remarks, then answered seven or eight questions from members of the grand jury.
He also demonstrated the shooting using his attorney as a model and a plastic gun, Porter said.
Hill took advantage of a provision in Georgia law that allows law enforcement officials to defend themselves in grand jury proceedings.
Porter, who is Chairman of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia, said the association is not a fan of that provision of the law.
“We’re in favor of some changes,” he said. “In a general sense, it seems unfair that an officer or a public official should be able to hear evidence and testify last. Why should police officers get a right that citizens don’t?”
Hill is accused of shooting Gwenevere McCord in May at a Lawrenceville model home where McCord worked. McCord prepared a written statement for the grand jury, Porter said, but did not appear before them. She has consistently said the shooting was accidental, he said.
McCord has since applied for a job in Hill's office.
Porter said the situation was “odd” but he did not know if it would affect any possible indictment. Hill could be charged with a misdemeanor for shooting McCord, 43.
The grand jury decision will come out later today.
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