14 DAY TRIAL // The trial of Sandra Layne, which we have chronicled earlier this month has ended in a conviction for the 75-year-old Michigan grandmother.
Layne has shot her 17-year-old grandson Jonathan Hoffman, claiming she was defending herself from the drug-abusing teenager.
Hoffman, who had been living with her in a suburban area of Detroit while his parents were in Arizona, tested positive for consumption of synthetic marijuana that day.
According to Detroit News, she told the court about being attacked and hit in the chest and arm, and firing back several times. However, the incident was captured on the teen's 911 call, and the timing of one of the shots was not consistent with her story.
"The jury listened to the tape over and over and over again. [...] Each time, they said they heard something different. They were especially affected by hearing a gunshot at a time when there is no struggle," Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton describes.
Hoffman has been arrested for marijuana possession before, and his court-ordered probation entailed that he was to submit himself to regular drug testing.
On the day he was shot, he failed one of the tests after consuming Spice room deodorizer, used to mimic the effect of pot.
Layne detailed how the student was threatening to run away, fearing being jailed for probation violation.
"She didn't want him to leave. [...] That's why she took the gun up there," Walton says.
Layne's daughter, Jennifer Hoffman, has reacted to the guilty verdict by calling her mother a "monster" and telling her she got what was coming to her.
"I'm glad she's put away and can't harm anyone else. [...] I know my son is in heaven and it's a place she'll never see," Hoffman states.
"It's a life sentence for her. [...] She's devastated but there is nothing anyone can do to her that she hasn't done to herself," defense attorney Jerome Sabbota explains.