Bishop v. Patton

No evidence showed that the defendant had plans to kill his former caretaker-turned-lover when he executed a gift deed to his approximate $125K home to his three minor grandchildren three months prior to committing the crime.

Thank you for sharing!

Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

This case involves two components of an interlocutory injunction. The trial court entered the injunction to preserve the status quo pending adjudication of the merits of plaintiffs’ wrongful death and fraudulent transfer claims. The injunction barred the defendants and anyone acting in concert with them from transferring a house that one of the defendants gave to his three minor grandchildren in Florida three months before he murdered the plaintiffs’ decedent, as well as almost $250,000 the same defendant’s son came up from Florida to withdraw from joint bank accounts in Georgia three days after the defendant was arrested for the murder. As explained below, we hold that the trial court abused its discretion with respect to the house but not with respect to the bank account proceeds. Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part. 1. On August 24, 2009, 76-year-old Richard Bishop pled guilty to the murder of his former caretaker-turned-lover, Gwendolyn Nutt. Nutt had moved in with Bishop during the course of their relationship; when she left him, she moved to another property that Bishop owned, living in a trailer that she soon began sharing with her new lover, Doyle Smith. Around the time that Nutt moved out, Bishop recorded a gift deed transferring his house, which was worth about $125,000, to his three minor grandchildren in Florida. He also listed the trailer property, which was worth about $25,000, for sale with two realty agents. Bishop continued living in the house for about three months after recording the gift deed.

On the night of August 12, 2009, Bishop confronted Nutt and Smith at the trailer. He shot and killed Nutt and shot and injured Smith. When interviewed by the police shortly after the murder, Bishop denied any involvement, but he agreed to show the police his gun collection, and the police recovered what they believed to be the murder weapon. On August 14, Bishop was arrested and denied bond.

Bishop v. Patton

No evidence showed that the defendant had plans to kill his former caretaker-turned-lover when he executed a gift deed to his approximate $125K home to his three minor grandchildren three months prior to committing the crime.

Share with Email

Thank you for sharing!

Trending Stories

More From ALM

Subscribe to Daily Report