Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Gregory Favors, the man accused of killing a state trooper during a traffic stop in December.
Favors appeared in Fulton County Superior Court Thursday, where assistant Fulton County District Attorney Eleanor Ross announced the state’s plans to pursue the ultimate penalty.
At the hearing, Judge Shawn Ellen LaGrua also allowed Favors’ private attorney to step aside so lawyers from the capital defenders office could take over his case.
Police say they have video footage of Favors shooting Trooper Chadwick LeCroy, 38, in the neck. The dashboard camera in the patrolman’s car was running during the traffic stop on Dec. 27.
Favors is in the Fulton County Jail without bond. He has a criminal record that dates back 11 years. On the night of the shooting, he was free on bond from jail. He was facing felony charges of criminal attempt to enter an auto, possession of tools for the commission of a crime, cocaine possession and two counts of obstructing a police officer.
Favors had failed to appear in court the day LeCroy noticed a broken taillight on his Mazda 6.
The Mazda stopped briefly for the trooper near Bolton Road outside I-285, but then sped away. LeCroy chased it for eight miles until it crashed into a brick mailbox.
The camera recorded LeCroy walking up to the Mazda and being shot by the driver, according to a police affidavit.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan said Favors fired three times at LeCroy, hitting the Marietta father and husband once in the neck. The shooter then got into the patrol car and drove off. The patrol car was found hours later on Gun Club Road in Atlanta. Atlanta police officers spotted Favors on foot nearby. He ran, but was captured.
Police say Favors tossed a handgun atop an apartment during his flight, and that he had dried blood on his hands.
The next hearing in the case is a month away. The judge scheduled the arraignment for April 28 at 1:30 p.m.
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