McDaniel will enter not guilty plea in Giddings murder case
Stephen McDaniel will plead “not guilty” at an arraignment hearing sometime in the next few weeks, his lawyer said Wednesday.
McDaniel, 26, who was indicted Tuesday in connection with the murder of his Mercer University law school classmate Lauren Giddings, “wants this case resolved,” defense attorney Floyd Buford said. “His family does, too.”
Buford canceled a Thursday bond hearing in the wake of his client’s Tuesday indictment by a Bibb County grand jury on one count of murder and 30 counts of sexual exploitation of children.
Buford said it is possible he would request another such hearing if, for instance, the case encountered an unforeseen delay.
“It’s always possible that it could be put back on the (court) calendar. ... Everybody thought it was best on our side to just take it off. We’ve got this indictment, and we’re having to study it and review it ... and just go from here,” Buford said.
He expects McDaniel to be arraigned before a Superior Court judge “within in the next three weeks, but of course, that’s up to the court.”
Buford said his client would enter a not guilty plea at that hearing, where the charges against him will be read and where McDaniel will be asked how he pleads. It is also the deadline for prosecutors to declare whether they will seek the death penalty against McDaniel.
A Lilburn native, McDaniel came to Macon and Mercer as an undergraduate on a presidential scholarship.
He enrolled in Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law in the fall of 2008 and moved into Barristers Hall apartments across the street.
The Maryland-born Giddings, who turned 27 in April, a month before they both graduated, was his next-door neighbor. Her dismembered torso was found wrapped in plastic in a trash can downstairs from her second-floor apartment on June 30.
McDaniel was jailed the next day on unrelated burglary charges -- charges on which prosecutors could still seek indictment.
He was charged with murder Aug. 2.
“Obviously, we’ve got a different situation now,” Buford said. “We’ve got a fellow that has been indicted, and when a person gets indicted and gets arraigned, then that puts his case on a track to get ultimately resolved.”
Buford said he spoke with McDaniel’s family Tuesday and Wednesday.
Of McDaniel’s mother, Glenda, Buford said, “On one hand she’s not surprised that he got indicted. I mean, we anticipated that. But at the same time she is glad, very glad, that the case is now going to be progressing through the courts and that Stephen is closer to having his day in court. With that in mind, she is happy in the sense that Stephen’s going to be able to get into court and hopefully begin to start trying to resolve this thing.”
To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398. To contact writer Joe Kovac Jr., call 744-4397.
This story was originally published November 17, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "McDaniel will enter not guilty plea in Giddings murder case."