Trial: Graphic text messages led to woman's death
A man accused of stabbing his fiancee to death said during court testimony the graphic text messages he found on her cell phone drove him to do it.
Kinaya Byrd, 34, was killed with a 7-inch knife at her Stockbridge home in February during an argument with Dana McFarlane, 35, according to police. He is on trial for her murder.
Byrd, who taught at River's Edge Elementary School, had had "a couple of altercations," with McFarlane, her father told the AJC soon after her death. "I had a deep feeling he might hurt her someday," Richard Byrd said of his only child.
In its account of the trial Thursday, wsbtv.com reported that McFarlane said he found graphic sexual texts on his girlfriend's phone and lost his mind. His attorney said he acted out of sudden passion and is only guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
A prosecutor told jurors before they began deliberating that the text messages were understandably upsetting, but "you don't get to kill somebody for that."
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
