Following an unimaginable tragedy, a Columbus, Ohio grandfather was found unfit to stand trial in the death of his teenage granddaughter.
After psychological examination, 73-year-old Booker Moody was determined to suffer from dementia, which will make it difficult for him to understand the case proceedings. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the prosecuting and defense attorneys agreed with the findings during a hearing held Friday at a nursing home where Moody has lived since the time of his indictment.
Moody was charged with involuntary manslaughter after the Aug. 2018 shooting death of his 19-year-old granddaughter Jordan C.V. Williams. Late Wednesday, Aug. 15, Williams came home to the house she shared with Moody and her one-year-old daughter without her key. When Moody did not come to the door, Williams knocked on her grandfather’s bedroom window. Startled by the knock, Moody picked up his shotgun and fired a single shot through the window and neighbors called to report hearing gunfire. When police arrived on the scene, they found Williams on the front lawn.
After neighbors told police that the shooter was still inside, Williams was carried away to receive first aid but was pronounced dead. A standoff ensued between the police and Moody, who refused to come out of the house. It was not until Thursday morning that he came through the front door to surrender. He was initially charged with murder, but his family called the shooting a “terrible accident” and they believed he should not be charged.
“I don’t know how I feel. Like I said it was an accident,” Moody’s daughter Traci Brown told ABC 6 at the time. “My dad is 72-years-old, he got dementia so he don’t remember. If he don’t remember, he don’t remember. I know personally if he knew it was her he wouldn’t have killed her.”
Brown also said her father was not the type of person to hurt anyone.
“He’s not a bad man. He has seven kids, and he got I don’t know how many grandkids, and he has great grandkids, and he takes care of all of us,” Brown stated.
Moody’s neighbor Robert Harris also spoke with ABC 6 at the time of the shooting and expressed compassion for Moody, who the family even said suffered from dementia.
“I don’t think he intentionally wanted to kill his niece or nothing. It’s dangerous out here. People do break into houses all the time. it’s just a sad situation. I’m going to keep the family in prayer and keep him in prayer,” Harris said.
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