Shubert Murder Trial Delayed in Franklin Co.
By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia
There is another delay in the murder trial of Brent Shubert, the Canon man accused in the 2013 murder of his fiancé, Bonny Ann Cooner.
Opening arguments were scheduled to begin Monday, but last Friday, Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Parks White requested a continuance.
White told Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Malcom that evidence relevant to the guilt of Shubert is still being processed at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Atlanta.
However, Shubert’s attorneys, Ryan Swingle and Adam Levin told Malcom they are ready to proceed with the trial.
After hearing from both sides, Judge Malcom signed an order postponing the trial to November 30th.
Shubert’s trial will be a bench trial, meaning Shubert’s fate will be decided by a Superior Court Judge, not a jury.
According to White ,that decision was made earlier under a plea deal with Shubert’s attorney and as part of the deal, White says the death penalty was also taken off the table.
A bench trial will save Franklin County thousands in court costs.
Had a jury trial gone forward, it would have cost Franklin County around $300,000.
Cooner went missing in late January 2013 from the home she and her son shared with Shubert on Unawatti Road in Canon.
An intensive search was launched to find Cooner that involved Franklin County Sheriff’s Office investigators and the GBI, as well as friends and relatives.
Cooner’s body was found two weeks later in early February 2013 down an abandoned well near her home.
An autopsy determined she had been strangled.
Shubert was arrested in Anderson, South Carolina several hours after Cooner’s body was found and returned to Franklin County.
In March of 2013, a Franklin County Grand Jury indicted Shubert on one count of malice murder, one count of felony murder, and one count of concealing the death of another.