Local man indicted for 2nd-degree murder
|
The defendant, Billy Joe Griffin, 21, was indicted by the Warren County grand jury on the charge of second-degree murder for the shooting death this May of Chad Nunley, 27.
Nunley was shot three times with a 9mm handgun wielded by Griffin as the victim approached the car in which the shooter was sitting outside a party at a rural A-frame home. Griffin, who remains held under bond at Warren County Jail, faces 15 to 25 years if convicted on the second-degree murder charge.
The defense has announced it will claim self-defense when the case comes to trial as Griffin maintains he was assaulted and pursued by Nunley, and others, and was left no alternative but to open fire. The defense maintains Griffin saw a knife and felt he was in danger with nowhere to flee.
The state asserts Nunley was not the person who assaulted Griffin nor was he the person Griffin claimed he saw holding a knife. The state maintains Griffin was not acting in self-defense but instead chose to open fire on an unarmed man.
The sole witness presented thus far testified during preliminary hearing that she heard no threats when Nunley approached the car in which Griffin was sitting, but instead saw three flashes of light when Griffin stepped out of the vehicle. It was unclear during preliminary hearing as to what prompted the confrontation between the men in the first place.
Along with murder charges, Griffin also faces charges of illegal possession of a weapon for carrying the 9mm he allegedly used to kill Nunley. Griffin was also indicted on the charge of vandalism after a fellow party-goer maintained a stray bullet fired by Griffin struck and damaged her car which was parked in the same driveway.