TIFTON — Jurors from here will be seated soon to hear the case of a woman charged with the 2007 murder of her ex-husband in his Waycross opthamology office.

Betty Joe Jacobs has been jailed without bond since 68-year-old opthamologist L. Davis Jacobs was shot on Aug. 24, 2007, as patients sat in a waiting room of his office near the Satilla Regional Medical Center in Waycross. Superior Court Judge Dwayne Gillis ordered this week that jury selection will begin here May 14. The panel of jurors picked to hear the case will be shuttled to Waycross for the trial that beings May 18 at the Ware County Courthouse.

In early January, Gillis granted District Attorney Rick Currie’s motion to have Betty Jacobs examined by an expert psychologist for the state. Currie needs the exam to prepare for the defense’s plan to seek acquittal based on the “battered spouse syndrome” defense. Lead defense attorney John Thigpen contends that Jacobs was a victim of spousal abuse for years and that she was defending herself when she shot her ex-husband.

Jacobs is officially charged with malice murder, felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. She was indicted by a Waycross grand jury and pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

According to an article that appeared in the Waycross Journal Herald, Gillis approved the defense team’s motion to grant a change of venue for the trial after several hours were spent questioning jurors in Waycross in hopes of getting together a panel of jurors for the final jury pick. Thigpen contended that Jacobs couldn’t get a fair trial in Waycross because too many potential jurors indicated during questioning that they had already formed an opinion in the case.

Gwen Pate, the clerk for Tift County Superior Court, said Thursday that her office will “order the jury” as in any Tift County Superior Court trial. The jurors will be summoned to appear in one of Tift County’s courtrooms. She said Ware County is expected to pay for all expenses incurred during the process.



To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.