In what both sides are calling an unusual decision, a judge has ordered a new trial for a man convicted in a Barrow County murder after he sentenced the defendant to life in prison.
Chief Judge David Motes pronounced sentence on Paul Hamilton last Thursday and then immediately made his own motion for a new trial and granted it, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Hamilton, a former Barrow County magistrate judge, had been charged with the Oct. 2015 murder of Brandon Lay.
Hamilton is accused of shooting the 34-year-old Lay because the victim allegedly broke into one of his mobile homes near Winder. The newspaper said Hamilton admitted to law enforcement he shot and killed Lay.
As part of Motes' court ruling, he granted bond for Hamilton, allowing the defendant to be released from custody.
