Franklin Co. Murder Trial Underway

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

An accused murderer in Franklin County is set to go on trial this week.

The trial of accused murderer Brent Shubert was expected to get underway Monday in Superior Court in Carnesville.

Shubert is the Franklin County man accused in the 2013 strangulation murder of his fiancée, Bonnie Ann Cooner.

Opening arguments were expected Monday, but no jury selection.

Originally a death penalty trial, it was to have taken place September 28.

However, Shubert’s attorney worked out a deal with the District Attorney for a bench trial, meaning Shubert’s case will be heard by and decided by a judge and not a jury.

Had a jury trial gone forward, it would have cost Franklin County around $300,000 – money Franklin County doesn’t have.

Additionally, the trial was pushed from September to today after Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Parks White requested a continuance.

White told Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Malcom evidence relevant to the guilt of Shubert was still being processed in late September at the GBI Crime Lab in Atlanta.

Cooner went missing in late January 2013 from the home she and her son shared with Shubert on Unawatti Road in Canon.

An intensive search was launched to find Cooner that involved Franklin County Sheriff’s Office investigators, the GBI, and friends and relatives.

Cooner’s body was found two weeks later in early February 2013 down an abandoned well near her home.

An autopsy determined she had been strangled.

Shubert was arrested several hours later in Anderson, South Carolina and returned to Franklin County.

In March of 2013, a Franklin County Grand Jury indicted Shubert on one count of malice murder, one count of felony murder and one count of concealing the death of another.

Since then, he has been held without bond in the Franklin County Detention Center.