Prosecutors have requested a review and asked for the bond to be revoked
A teen accused of fatally shooting her father has been released on bond, which prosecutors say was paid using her father’s life insurance policy payout.
According to police reports, on Feb. 23, the girl took a 9-mm handgun and shot her 71-year-old father James Ponder in the head. She was 14 years old and a high school freshman at the time, living in the city of Hamilton, Ohio.
“I just shot my dad,” she reportedly told 911 dispatchers moments later. When the police arrived at the driveway of their home on Millville Avenue they arrested her.
Butler County juvenile court judge Kathleen Romans rejected prosecutors’ motion for her to be tried as an adult. On Aug. 29, after a Butler County grand jury indicted the girl for aggravated murder, Romans set her bond at $300,000 with a 10% rule. The bond was posted in September, and the girl was placed under house arrest at her grandmother’s residence.
On Sept. 29, prosecutors moved for a review and revocation of the girl’s bond. In their motion, the prosecutors included an affidavit from James Ponder Jr., the son of the victim. He claimed that in April, his stepmother received life-insurance benefits amounting to $250,000 from his father’s death.
“I have knowledge that my step-mother … posted the bond for (the teen) in the amount of $30,000 out of funds from the life insurance benefit,” Ponder Jr. said, adding that the benefits are also being used to pay for the teen’s legal defence.
Related stories:
Vancouver murder brings life insurance exclusion clause to light
Father sentenced for killing infant son
According to police reports, on Feb. 23, the girl took a 9-mm handgun and shot her 71-year-old father James Ponder in the head. She was 14 years old and a high school freshman at the time, living in the city of Hamilton, Ohio.
“I just shot my dad,” she reportedly told 911 dispatchers moments later. When the police arrived at the driveway of their home on Millville Avenue they arrested her.
Butler County juvenile court judge Kathleen Romans rejected prosecutors’ motion for her to be tried as an adult. On Aug. 29, after a Butler County grand jury indicted the girl for aggravated murder, Romans set her bond at $300,000 with a 10% rule. The bond was posted in September, and the girl was placed under house arrest at her grandmother’s residence.
On Sept. 29, prosecutors moved for a review and revocation of the girl’s bond. In their motion, the prosecutors included an affidavit from James Ponder Jr., the son of the victim. He claimed that in April, his stepmother received life-insurance benefits amounting to $250,000 from his father’s death.
“I have knowledge that my step-mother … posted the bond for (the teen) in the amount of $30,000 out of funds from the life insurance benefit,” Ponder Jr. said, adding that the benefits are also being used to pay for the teen’s legal defence.
Related stories:
Vancouver murder brings life insurance exclusion clause to light
Father sentenced for killing infant son
