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Murder trial set for DeFuniak Springs woman accused of shooting friend in face (DOCUMENT)
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — A judge approved a request Tuesday to preserve more than a year’s worth of telephone records documenting calls accused murderer Teresa McKee made from the Walton County Jail.
The 45-year-old DeFuniak Springs woman is accused of shooting her “on-again, off-again” friend in the face after an argument on Aug. 11, 2009, according to her arrest report.
Walton County Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells approved a defense motion to preserve records of all incoming and outgoing calls from the jail from Aug. 11, 2009, to Aug. 23, 2010.
Jeremy Keich, McKee’s attorney, asked that the phone records be saved. The information will be used when McKee’s trial begins on Oct. 11.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Greg Anchors said the request was “peculiar.”
“Usually, we do the requesting of phone records,” Anchors said after the hearing. “We’ve listened to it and don’t know of any reason to be using it. I don’t have a clue what he’s up to.”
Anchors said anything that shows McKee in a favorable light likely would not make it to trial. Only information related to the shooting would be presented to the jury, he said.
According to her arrest report, McKee initially confessed to killing 45-year-old Stephanie Lockwood in Lockwood’s house trailer on County Road 1084 in the Liberty community about 10 miles north of DeFuniak Springs.
She told sheriff’s investigators she went to Lockwood’s trailer with a shotgun. After they “exchanged words,” she fired two shots at Lockwood. She missed the first time, but hit Lockwood in the left side of her face on her second shot.
McKee, a former corrections officer at the Walton Correctional Institute, was arrested two days later and charged with second-degree murder. After she was read her Miranda rights, she told investigators she shot Lockwood. McKee pleaded not guilty to the charge in September 2009, according to sheriff’s records.
If convicted, McKee could be sentenced to life in prison.
Her next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 5.
