Prosecutor: Grandson 'Hunted Down' by Grandmother in Michigan, 'Because He Wouldn't Listen' [VIDEO]

A teenage grandson was "hunted down" by his grandmother before she opened fire on him at her suburban Detroit home last year, a prosecutor told jurors in court on Monday.

Sandra Layne, 75, had shot her 17-year-old grandson Jonathan Hoffman 10 times over six-minute duration, prosecutor Paul Walton said. He played Hoffman's 911 call last May which says, "I'm going to die," as Layne shot him.

Last week, Layne testified that she acted in self-defense, against Hoffman's erratic behavior, such as using synthetic marijuana. On day of shooting she argued with his demands for money and his plan to flee Michigan, she feared for her life saying she was "desperate and didn't know what to do."

However Walton reminded jurors that she did not report any injuries to police that arrived at her home after the shooting.

"Not I was afraid, I acted in self-defense, he came after me," Walton said. "I murdered. I shot. I killed - those are her first statements to law enforcement. ... She hunted down Jonathan Hoffman because he wouldn't listen." He stated the shooting was a "massacre."

"You've got to put yourself in her place," Jerome Sabbota, Layne's attorney said, according to the Detroit News. "This is a tragedy but don't compound it with your verdict."

He added, "There were two sides to Jonathan Hoffman. There is a side of someone who used drugs ... who frightened his grandmother. ... She doesn't deny she shot him. She shot him because she was afraid."

The case is not about whether Layne shot the teenager in her West Bloomfield Township home but whether she should be held criminally responsible for the death.

Below is video of 911 call played during the preliminary hearing.

Show comments
Tags
world news

Featured