Weeklong murder trial continues

Published 7:00 am Sunday, March 10, 2024

A murder trial underway this week in Baldwin County Superior Court will stretch into at least Monday of next week if not longer.

The case involves a man accused of shooting to death his 23-year-old girlfriend at the mobile home where she lived in Baldwin County on Sept. 12, 2022.

Reco Stephens had been dating Shani King, a former state corrections officer turned insurance agent, before the tragic night when the victim was shot in the neck and later died at the local hospital.

Shani was standing in the kitchen of her residence at Old Capital Mobile Home Park, off Georgia Route 49, at the time.

Stephens, who has maintained his innocence since the shooting and sought a jury trial, is on trial for the following offenses: malice murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Because the trial did not conclude Friday, jurors and others involved in the case will return to the courtroom Monday to resume where the trial left off.

The defendant is represented by defense attorney Armad Crews of Atlanta.

Meanwhile, Stephens is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Sydney Segers and Nancy Scott Molasky.

The trial is being presided over by Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Terry Massey.

One of the state’s key witnesses turned out to be the prosecution’s last witness in their case Friday, Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Detective Robert Butch, the lead investigator.

King, who used to work as a corrections officer at GEO Prison or what also is referred to as Riverbend Correctional Facility near Milledgeville, died shortly after she arrived at the emergency department of Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin hospital in Milledgeville on Sept. 12, 2022. She suffered a neck wound.

Stephens told Butch during interviews shortly after he was detained that he drove his girlfriend her and 15-month-old son to the hospital. The interviews took place Sept. 13, 2022, at the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office prior to warrants being taken out against Stephens in connection with the homicide case.

During the interviews with Stephens, which were video and audio recorded, the defendant replied to a series of questions asked of him by Butch.

The veteran detective was joined in the interview room by Detective Reid White, who is now working as a road patrol deputy sergeant.