Murdering Granny Won't Get New Trial

A 76-year-old West Bloomfield grandmother who killed her grandson in an argument over his failed drug test in 2012 won’t get a new trial.

Sandra Layne argued that the court erred in not allowing her to testify about threatening statements her 17-year-old grandson, Jonathan Hoffman, reportedly made before their argument culminated with multiple gunshots in her West Bloomfield condominium, The Oakland Press reports.

The statements would have substantiated Layne’s claim that she acted in self-defense when she shot and killed her grandson n in May 2012, her lawyers argued.

Layne was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 and sentenced to 22 years in prison. She shot her grandson 10 times, striking him six times, including twice in the back.

The Michigan Court of Appeals said Wednesday that Layne “fails to establish that, even if the evidence was improperly excluded, the error affected the outcome of the trial.”

“Contrary to her claim, any statements (Hoffman) purportedly made in the in the car on the way home from the drug testing appointments would not likely have led the jury to believe that (Hoffman) was the initial aggressor before (Layne) shot him multiple times.)

The court also rejected Layne’s argument that the 22-year sentence represented cruel and unusual punishment, and said it was within sentencing guidelines. When she was sentenced in April 2013, her lawyer, Jerome Sabbota, argued for a one-year sentence and said anything longer would be a death sentence.

However, prosecutor Paul Walton called the murder “an execution” and Layne’s story that she felt threatened “fanciful.” She never told police that she had been attacked, nor did she flee the condo when the physical altercation began.

At the time a senior at alternative Farmington Central High School, Hoffman had been in and out of trouble. Layne testified at her trial that her 5-foot, 5-inch, 110-pound grandson had hit her and that she was afraid of him. He had been living with his grandmother and grandfather for about 10 months.

At the time, police said they had never seen such a “tragic and shocking” case.

“We’ve had husbands and wives killing each other, but this is the first time we’ve heard of a grandmother shooting a grandson,” Lt. Tim Diamond of the West Bloomfield Police Department told ABC News in 2012.

Hoffman pleaded for help and called 911 as his grandmother repeatedly shot him, telling dispatchers at one point as he gasped for air, “”My grandma shot me. I’m going to die. Help. I got shot again.” The 911 tape was critical in Layne’s conviction.

When police arrived, she reportedly answered the door still holding the .40 caliber semi-automatic gun she had used to murder her grandson.

» Read the full Appeals Court opinion here.

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