By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
White County murder trial continues
Placeholder Image

CLEVELAND — Unsigned divorce papers sat on a table a few feet away from where a White County 911 dispatcher was found dead from gunshot wounds in the home of her estranged husband last year, an investigator testified in court Wednesday.

White County Sheriff’s Investigator Mark Taylor was the day’s main witness in the murder trial of 22-year-old Jonathan Hart, who is accused in the July 2008 fatal shooting of his 21-year-old wife, Stephanie Hart.

Jurors viewed photographs of the scene and the victim during Wednesday’s testimony.

The trial began Tuesday with opening statements from prosecutor Jeremy Clough and public defender Charlie Brown.

Family members have said the couple were married for a year before separating in 2007. Stephanie Hart had gone to Jonathan Hart’s home on Lothridge Road off Ga. 115 on the day of the shooting.

Jonathan Hart fled the state after the shooting and was later found walking along the side of a highway in Louisiana, according to authorities. He was extradited back to Georgia.

The trial in Superior Court Judge Lynn Akeley-Alderman’s courtroom is expected to last into next week. If convicted of murder, Hart would received a mandatory sentence of life in prison.