Butler Waives Right to Jury Trial in Ewing Case - DA Takes Death Penalty Off the Table

UPDATE: Alcovy Circuit Court District Attorney Layla Zon said Barry Partee has agreed to plead guilty and should be in court March 14. She said John Jody Blackwell is still facing the death penalty - he has not entered a plea agreement.

Jury Selection in the death penalty trial of Cory Butler, of Monroe, the first trial for the three men accused in the 2009 murder of 65-year-old Epsie Ewing of Loganville was scheduled to begin on March 13, 2013. However, Butler waived his right to a jury trial and in exchange the death penalty has been taken off the table, according to the Walton County District Attorney's office.

The bench trial will begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Opening arguments were heard on Wednesday.

Butler, John Jody Blackwell, Jr. and Barry Partee were all facing the death penalty following the May 21, 2009 attack. Ewing never recovered from her injuries and died in the hospital the following month.

The trial has been a long time in coming for the family of Ewing. Her sister, Faye Evans, said she is comfortable with the death penality being taken off the table.

"At first I just wanted them to die for what they did to my sister, but over the years, it's now almost four, I think I've changed my mind," Evans said. "I've had a lot of time to think about it. I want them to spend the rest of their lives in jail - looking at four walls."

Updates to follow.