Testimony during an unusual murder trialthat starts Monday will focus on the relationship between a grandmother and grandson who shared a West Bloomfield condo until his shooting death last May.
Sandra Layne, 75, is accused of murdering Jonathan Hoffman, 17.
L.L. Brasier has a trial preview in the Detroit Free Press.
Two divergent pictures of Layne are expected to emerge: one of a grandmother who gunned down her teenage grandson as he begged for help on a 911 call and another of a terrified woman who had been repeatedly threatened by an angry teenager who was out of control and on drugs.
Defense attorney Jerome Sabbota, hired by Layne's family, said she's expected to testify. . .
Sabbota said Layne's actions that day were that of a terrified woman responding to a violent teenager. . . .
Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper declined to discuss the specifics of the case.
Layne, a retired schoolteacher and mother of five, and her husband, Fred, were caring for Hoffman after his parents, who were divorcing, moved to Arizona.
