Grandson convicted of murdering grandmother with knife, dish

PERRY, Ga. (AP) - A 33-year-old Georgia man has been convicted of murdering his grandmother in 2018 after striking her with a Crock-Pot and stabbing her in the chest with a kitchen knife.

Jared Randall Carter was convicted Friday in the June 2018 death of 81-year-old Valeria Jean Mann of Warner Robins.

The Telegraph of Macon reports a Houston County jury deliberated for more than two hours before convicting Carter. He will be sentenced later, facing between 30 years and life in prison.

Witnesses testified that Carter and Mann had a contentious relationship after Carter came south from his hometown of New York to live with Mann.

Carter was arrested after he asked a neighbor to call 911 the night of Mann’s death. Carter told police then he had walked in to find Mann dead on her living floor.

Prosecutors said the believed Carter had assaulted his grandmother because she wanted him to move out. Her boyfriend in Connecticut was said to be planning to move into Mann’s Warner Robins house.

A social worker and a police detective testified that Mann earlier told them Carter had been emotionally and verbally abusive and that she feared him. However, the woman didn’t ask the authorities to intervene, hoping to persuade Carter to leave on her own.

Carter took the witness stand in his own defense Friday morning said he and Mann "were very close" and that she had been a second mother to him.

In court Friday when his attorney asked him if he had killed his grandmother, The Telegraph reported that Carter replied, "No, I didn’t."

Prosecutor Alicia Gassett told jurors that Mann died "in the most heinous and unimaginable way," showing them a foot-long chef’s knife believe to have been the murder weapon.

Gassett spoke of the smashed ceramic dish that Mann’s attacker had cleaned up and put in the trash after the slaying.

"It shows you how much force this man used on this tiny ... 81-year-old woman," Gassett said.

The prosecutor also recounted the testimony of one of Mann’s friends, who said Mann had confided in her that "if something ever happens to me, (Carter) did it."

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