Georgia woman propped a Swiffer against the door the night her husband died. Prosecutors call it a ‘booby trap,’ and her lawyer calls it a warning
Lacy Jolee Boles is on trial for the 2019 shooting death of her 36-year-old husband, Daniel Akers, at their Georgia home. Prosecutors argue that Boles shot her husband during a dispute, while her defense maintains that Akers died by from a self-inflicted gunshot, according to Court TV. Boles has pleaded not guilty to charges of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault.
Much of the case centers on a Swiffer mop Boles propped against the door before Akers came home. Prosecutor Jason Treadaway called it a booby trap meant to alert her when he returned. Her attorney, Brian Steel, said she had texted Akers not to come home as she planned to file for divorce, and agreed the mop was a warning.
Treadaway opened the state’s case by describing a volatile marriage, telling jurors, “They loved hard and they fought hard.” He said the couple had been arguing about money before the holidays, as Akers was between union jobs. Boles told police the fight turned physical the day before, claiming Akers pushed her against a wall and choked her.
Prosecutors and the defense describe two very different moments in that basement
Prosecutors claim that after Akers came inside with a bag of McDonald’s, Boles confronted him and shot him in the face with a .22 caliber pistol. Treadaway described the shooting as an execution, telling the jury Akers was “ambushed, executed in his own basement.” The bullet entered through Akers’ left nostril and traveled into his brain.
The defense described the shooting as a tragic accident. Steel said Boles followed her husband downstairs and saw him holding a gun to his mouth with his left hand, and that Akers told her, “You can’t help me, no one can help me.” According to Steel, Boles lunged for his arm, the two struggled over the weapon, and it fired.
Investigators found the gun near Akers’ right hand. However, Boles told police he held it in his left hand while also saying he was right-handed, which prosecutors argue points to staging. Steel pushed back, asking jurors, “Why would she stage a gun on the left side and tell the police he’s a righty if she’s staging everything?”
Steel also pointed to the pressures Akers faced at the time, telling jurors he was broke and facing both a furlough from work and a possible return to prison for a parole violation. However, prosecutors described Akers as a happy father who was looking forward to baseball season with his young son.
Steel conceded that a gunshot through the nose is “very, very bizarre,” but urged jurors to weigh the full picture. The trial was delayed over the summer after a prospective juror allegedly asked ChatGPT about the case and shared details with others in the jury pool. Steel previously represented Sean “Diddy” Combs and rapper Young Thug in their criminal cases.
Georgia law gives prosecutors two separate routes to a murder conviction
Under Georgia’s murder statute, malice murder means unlawfully causing another person’s death with malice aforethought, either express or implied. Felony murder covers a death caused while committing another felony, regardless of malice. As Georgia courts have held, the two charges are not mutually exclusive, so prosecutors can bring both in the same case, as they have against Boles.
Georgia courts have also held that premeditation is not a specific element of malice murder, and that malice can form immediately before a killing. That distinction may matter as the jury weighs an alleged ambush against a struggle over the gun. Under the statute, any murder conviction in Georgia carries at least a life sentence.
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