An Orange County woman pled guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday after shooting her mother in the head in December of 2022.

Paula Lee Decoteau, who was 51 at the time of the shooting, killed her 75-year-old mother Cheryl Garner Medlin in an incident at Medlin’s residence on Spruce Pine Trail, near the border of Orange and Durham counties. Decoteau now faces a minimum sentence of 15-and-a-half years, with the maximum being life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Though Decoteau was initially charged with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, two misdemeanor counts of assaulting a government official or employee and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, most of those charges were dropped in the plea deal. The first-degree murder charge was downgraded to second-degree murder after testimony revealed Decoteau had been heavily drinking at a bar with friends and possibly ingesting cocaine and methamphetamine before the incident at Medlin’s house. The charge of assault with a deadly weapon and one of the charges of assault on a government official were dropped in 2023.

Previous testimony also revealed that on the night of the shooting, an argument between Decoteau and Medlin began after Decoteau blamed her mother for the death of Decoteau’s husband. Two witnesses reported hearing a single gunshot. After attempting to call 911, the witnesses testified Decoteau temporarily took their phones. Eventually, the pair were able to get their phones back and called 911; Medlin, however, died after being taken to the hospital.

The News & Observer reported multiple relatives of Medlin were in attendance for Wednesday’s hearing in Orange County Superior Court, including Medlin’s niece. Decoteau’s attorney claimed her client couldn’t remember the night of the incident beyond drinking at the bar.

 

Featured image via Chapel Hill Media Group

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