A Georgia woman covered her face with her hands and cried Wednesday after being found guilty of killing a stranger during a citizen’s arrest gone fatally wrong.
Hannah Payne, 24, claimed she never planned to shoot Kenneth Herring, 62, who ran a red light and caused a minor car accident in May 2019, but simply wanted to erase his license plate number.
But the jury ruled that Payne unlawfully assaulted and killed the man after witnesses heard him follow Herring and punch him before pulling the trigger.
“Kenneth Herring, who was unarmed and minding his own business, was chased, detained, shot and killed,” Crown prosecutor Nigel Hunter said in his closing statement. “You cannot receive the death penalty for committing a traffic crime.”
Payne was convicted of two counts of felony murder, three counts of possession of a weapon during a crime and one count each of premeditated murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment. He will be sentenced on Friday.
Witnesses also told the court Payne brandished the gun from his hip, threatened to shoot Herring twice and did so “immediately.” FOX5 Atlanta reported.
Earlier this week, Payne took the stand in his defense, and while he agreed with jurors that he drew his gun, he claimed he never intended to shoot and instead shot Herring himself in the struggle for the gun.
The 2019 incident in Clayton County began with a minor car crash with a semi-truck that was reportedly caused by Herring running a red light in his Dodge Dakota pickup truck. Payne was not involved in the crash, but he witnessed it and pulled over to call 911, he said.
Payne testified that a corrections officer who witnessed the crash told him while waiting at the scene that the man was “okay but…definitely drunk.”
This prompted Payne and the truck driver to simultaneously ask, “Are you saying you’re drunk?” It caused them to ask.
Meanwhile, the state corrections officer stated that Herring showed signs of diabetic shock. He said the man’s eyes were red-orange, he appeared disoriented, and he circled his truck several times before driving off.
Herring waited at the scene for approximately 15 to 20 minutes before leaving. Law and Crime.
Payne realized no one at the scene had Herring’s information or license plate number and chased after Herring in his Jeep, despite being told not to do so by the 911 dispatcher a total of four times.
“Okay, so you didn’t get the tag number?” According to a recording of the 911 call played in court, the 911 dispatcher asked Payne this question.
“No, but I’m catching up with him right now,” he replied.
“Okay ma’am, we don’t actually want you to chase him, we just want you to be safe,” the dispatcher added.
“He’s drunk. I’m not,” Payne told the officer. “I’m sorry, but I’m here to tell you I won’t be following him because it would cause an accident.”
Payne later testified that he “was under the impression that he was going to be a reporter because 911 was on the phone.”
The fatal confrontation occurred when Payne grabbed Herring, who was stopped in the turning lane at an intersection, and demanded he return to the scene of the crash.
“We’re loud, it’s near an interstate, it’s a busy road, and I can’t hear what he’s saying to me. But as I get closer to him, I hear him asking me who I am,” Payne told the court.
At one point, she claimed Herring knocked her phone out of her hand and then reached out the window and grabbed her, ripping her shirt. He then “stomped the gas” and briefly dragged her with his car.
Payne said he told Herring at the time that he had a gun and then showed him the gun.
“I pulled it out and immediately started pushing the door — like trying to push it away from him,” she said. “He held my hand where the gun was.”
“As I was pulling it, the trigger went off,” he continued. “After it exploded, my whole body fell backwards.”
But witnesses who testified at Payne’s trial told a different story.
They claimed Payne chased Herring, cut him off with his car, then jumped out and ran “very aggressively” to his car, cursed at him and immediately began punching the “confused” man through his window.
They claimed he then pulled out his gun, threatened to shoot her twice and “immediately” shot her dead.
Payne’s defense attorney, Matt Tucker, said in his closing statement that his client was just trying to help.
“This is not a murderer, this is not a murder. “A young girl who got into the wrong situation.”
“In his mind, he was a young individual trying to help,” Mr. Tucker continued. “No good deed goes unpunished.”
Many family members were in the courtroom when the verdict was announced.
“When I heard the first decision, I knew we shouldn’t have shown signs,” said Jacqueline Herring, one of Herring’s sisters. FOX5.
“But the tears started streaming down my face because I felt a sense of relief in that moment.”