State to seek death penalty in Hoschton murders

JEFFERSON - The state will seek the death penalty against a Hoschton man who is accused in the deaths of four people nearly two years ago.

Henry Lee Stringer is accused of killing his two children, their mother and grandmother in May 2006.

A "First Proceeding" is planned later this month in the case, according to the Jackson County District Attorney's Office.

It is a requirement of death penalty cases in Georgia and the rules that govern pretrial and trial proceedings in such cases.

It will be held March 25.

Stringer was indicted last June on 15 felony charges, including multiple counts of felony murder, malice murder, aggravated assault, cruelty to children and arson.

The women and children were found dead May 30, 2006, inside a burning house in Hoschton.

Stringer, 35, is accused of killing Evelyn Strickland, 68; her daughter, Marvelette J'Laine Strickland, 29; and the two children Stringer had with Marvelette Strickland, J. Manjuan Tyshein Stringer, 4, and J. Lasia Asiyne Stringer, 2.

According to the indictments, Stringer killed the two women by stabbing them with an unknown instrument. The children were killed in the fire, the indictment says.

It was nearly a year after the murders before Stringer was arrested at his home.

Investigators have not revealed a possible motive for the murders.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)