CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — Friends and family of a couple killed in their home say it would be emotionally devastating if the trial is delayed. The daughter of the couple is accused of killing them and has asked the court to delay her trial.
The new public defender for Sarah Grace Patrick says since he got on the case in February, he has found significant issues with the case and has to explore those issues before he can affectively defend the teen.
“There are issues with what officers did in this case,” Shawn Hoover told Carroll County Superior Court Judge Dustin Hightower.
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Hoover said he’s having trouble getting evidence.
“We are literally still requesting information from GBI that’s still coming in,” Hoover said.
Hoover said he doesn’t have all of Patrick’s Department of Family and Children Services records.
He told the court there are chain of custody issues with evidence collected by deputies and forwarded to the GBI. And he said he just learned about a rogue officer on the case who tested a gun that might be connected to this case.
“We’re in a murder trial, a double homicide, and now rogue officers are bringing in evidence that no one knew before,” Hoover said.
Patrick faces murder after prosecutors say she was 17 when shot and killed her mother, Kristin Brock, and her stepfather, Jamie Brock, as they slept in their home back in February last year.
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Prosecutors told the judge they don’t want a delay and they are ready for trial.
As for the allegations of a rogue officer: “I do appreciate the hyperbole of defense counsel, but we do not have a rogue officer running wild,” Assistant District Attorney Michael Parrish told the court.
Parrish said officers test guns all the time. And the gun tested was not connected to this case.
He said the defense has all of Patrick’s DFCS records and all the evidence that’s been collected so far.
“Everything has been turned over,” he said.
Jamie Brock’s sister wants to keep the trial date right where it is. “It’s just been long enough. I want it to be over with,” Kim Bowling said.
Judge Hightower said he will announce whether he will keep the trial date on August 3 or delay it either Tuesday or Wednesday.
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