Woman Says Jesus Told Her to Kill Her Husband
Pastor Dale Morgan
Woman Says Jesus Told Her to Kill Her Husband*
Greenville County (The Greenville News) - A Marietta woman accused of
killing her common-law husband told authorities her husband had used the
Lord's name in vain too many times and that she shot him because "Jesus
told me to do it," according to court testimony Wednesday.
Donna Marie Redding began quoting "all kinds of Scripture" and told
investigators that she killed her husband, Gary Dean Parnell, after the
two had argued over whether to play rock or country music and over who
would roll a marijuana cigarette, Greenville County Sheriff's
investigator Chris Miller testified in court.
In her confession, Redding, 35, told investigators that Parnell "is the
devil" and that Jesus had told her to kill him, Miller testified during
a preliminary hearing in which the prosecution presents for the first
time a general outline of its case against a defendant.
"She was asked why he was the devil," Miller testified. "She said,
'Because he says the Lord's name in vain.'"
Redding's defense attorney, Scott Robinson, asked Miller if anyone saw
Redding shoot Parnell and whether any wiring cable that might have been
used to threaten her was found at the desk where Parnell was found
slumped over in a chair.
Miller testified that Redding told investigators that Parnell had not
made any threatening gestures before she shot him.
On the afternoon of April 6, the 52-year-old Parnell was found slumped
over in a chair with a shotgun wound to the stomach in the home he and
Redding shared on 172 Parnell Bridge Road in the mountains of Marietta,
Miller testified.
Outside the home, Parnell's brother and great-nephew were working on
unclogging a natural spring that was the source of water to the
household, Miller testified.
The nephew went inside for a short while and saw Parnell working at his
desk in a master bedroom welding wire, and both Parnell and Redding
seemed fine, Miller testified. Fifteen minutes later, the nephew and
brother heard a loud noise and thought Redding, who was known to burn
garbage outside, might have thrown an aerosol paint can into a fire,
Miller testified.
The two went in to check and Redding told them she had killed Parnell,
Miller testified.When authorities entered the bedroom, they found
Parnell with a shotgun wound to his upper abdomen, slumped over in his
desk chair and his feet under a desk drawer, Miller testified.
On the bed were a shotgun and pellet gun and two shotgun casings, one
spent and the other unused, he testified.Redding was arrested and
charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
Chief Magistrate Diane Cagle ruled that prosecutors have enough probable
cause that the charges should be passed along to a grand jury to
consider indictment.