Two Defendants in Ewing Trial Expected in Court Thursday

UPDATE: Testimony began this morning in the Cory Butler Trial with CF Ewing, husband of Epsie Ewing, giving testimony.

On cross, Butler's attorney, Gladys Pollard, attempted to impeach part of the testimony based on conflicting statement CF had given to Loganville Police Department detectives at the hospital the day of and in the days immediately following the attack.

C.F. said that he had been beaten and was dazed at the time, which could account for some of the inconsistencies. Much of the testimony centered around whether Butler had on gloves or not, whether any of the other two men had on gloves and when the gloves were first put on.

Pollard also questioned C.F. on his relationship with Angela Jackson, a woman who was alleged to have come to the house with Butler prior to the attack. C.F. admitted to an affair with Jackson and acknowledged that she had been getting money from him, allegedly for a baby that was supposedly a result of the affair. However, no baby was ever found to exist, according to earlier testimony. C.F. testified that Butler had returned on the day of May 21, 2009 and said he wanted to buy C.F.'s truck. He and C.F. took the truck for a test drive, according to C.F.'s testimony, and when they returned, Butler pulled a gun on him and led forced him into the house.

One of the inconsistencies about whether Epsie Ewing was on the back porch or in the utility room appeared to have been satisfied when it was established that the utility room had at one point been a back porch, but by the time of the attack it had been converted to a utility room.

A second witness who testified on Thursday morning, Amanda Korpi, arrived at her parent's home next door the Covington Street, Loganville home of the Ewings, at the time of the attack. She alerted another neighbor after seeing two of the men get into a car with a third man and drive away.

The court case will resume on Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. at the Walton County Courthouse, 303 Hammond Street, in Monroe, following a break for lunch.

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Barry Partee, one of the three Monroe men accused in the 2009 murder of 65-year-old Epsie Ewing of Loganville, is expected to enter a guilty plea in Walton County Superior Court on Thursday, March 14, 2013, according to Alcovy Circuit District Attorney Layla Zon.

The bench trial of another accused in the case, Cory Butler, also is on the docket.

"Butler has agreed to waive his right to a jury trial and will go before Judge (Eugene) Benton on the case and can face up to Life Without Parole," Zon said. "Partee has agreed to enter a plea and will likely plea with sentencing withheld until after he testifies against Butler."

Zon said the third defendant in the case, John Jody Blackwell, has not agreed to enter any plea whatsoever.

"So we will likely not hear from Blackwell at trial at all," Zon said, adding that at this time Blackwell is still facing the death penalty.

All three men were facing the death penalty following the May 21, 2009 attack of Ewing. She never recovered from her injuries and died in the hospital the following month. 

Zon said jury selection was scheduled to begin on March 13 in the death penalty trial of Butler, who was the first of the three to go on trial. However, just before jury selection was set to begin, Butler made the deal that spared him from facing the death penalty. Opening arguments in his bench trial were held on Wednesday afternoon and the trial will resume at 9 a.m. Thursday, Zon said.

See Also

• Trial of First of the 3 Men Accused in the 2009 Murder of Epsie Ewing To Begin Next Week
• Butler Waives Right to Jury Trial in Ewing Case - DA Takes Death Penalty Off the Table
• UPDATE: Pretrial Motions in Ewing Trial Cancelled

• Accused Murderers of Loganville Woman Back in Court
• Date Set for the First of the Ewing Murder Trials