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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Latest on a Mississippi man charged with killing a deputy and seven other people (all times local):
11:40 a.m.
A judge in Mississippi says a grand jury can decide whether to indict a man charged with killing a deputy sheriff and seven other people.
Judge Bryan Harbour made the decision to move the case forward after a brief probable cause hearing Wednesday. The judge heard testimony from a state Highway Patrolman who helped investigate at two of the three houses where authorities say people were shot to death.
The investigator identified Willie Cory Godbolt as the suspect in all of the killings. Godbolt was arrested May 28, after authorities say he fatally shot people at three different houses over a span of several hours.
He showed no emotion in court Wednesday. More than two dozen officers were part of a stepped-up security presence in the packed courtroom. There were about 50 friends and relatives of the victims in the audience.
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4:20 a.m.
A Mississippi man charged with killing eight people is set to appear in court.
Willie Cory Godbolt has been jailed without bond since his arrest May 28, shortly after the fatal shootings of a sheriff's deputy and seven others who were Godbolt's relatives or acquaintances.
The killings May 27 and 28 occurred at three homes in and around Brookhaven, Mississippi. They began after a deputy responded to a disturbance call at a home where witnesses say Godbolt was arguing with his estranged wife.
Prosecutors will ask a judge Wednesday to send Godbolt's case to a grand jury.
Godbolt is charged with one count of capital murder, which could carry the death penalty, in the deputy's shooting. He's also charged with seven counts of murder, which could carry life without parole.
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