MARIETTA - A jury from Lumpkin County will hear the death penalty case against a Paulding County man accused of murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her mother, but the trial will be held in Cobb County.
The 1999 slaying of Tara Cantrell, 19, and her mother, Mildred Cantrell, 41, in Mableton created too much publicity for the trial of Michael Willard Buttram to be held using Cobb County jurors, Superior Court Judge Dorothy Robinson ruled.
Robinson accepted an agreement between the defense and the prosecution to select a jury in Dahlonega and sequester it for the trial in Marietta. Jury selection will begin Nov. 3.
Robinson originally ordered the trial moved to Douglas County, but the Georgia Supreme Court upheld a defense challenge that Atlanta media coverage was too extensive in Douglas.
During the investigation, neighbors told police Tara Cantrell had been trying to break up with Buttram and had moved into her mother's home to get away.
Thursday
April 24th, 2025
1:26AM
