Hannah Payne of Georgia was convicted on all charges, including felony murder, in the 2019 shooting death of 62-year-old Kenneth Herring.
A Clayton County jury deliberated for roughly 90 minutes before determining Payne unlawfully pursued, attacked, and murdered Kenneth following a minor traffic accident on May 7, 2019.
Hannah Payne was convicted of two counts of felony murder, three counts of possession of a weapon during a crime, and one count of malice murder, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment.
Payne and a semi-truck had a green light when Kenneth Herring breezed through a red light in his Dodge Dakota pickup truck and caused a minor crash with the semi-truck.
Hannah was not involved in the crash, but she pulled over to call 911.
Kenneth was at the scene for roughly 15 to 20 minutes before he got back into his pickup truck and drove off.
Against the advice of the 911 operator, Hannah Payne jumped in her jeep to pursue Kenneth Herring, who she assumed was drunk.
She boldly told the 911 dispatcher, “He is drunk. I’m not! I’m sorry, but I’m here to tell you I’m not not going to follow him because he is going to cause an accident.”
Hannah caught up to Kenneth at an intersection, cut him off with her car, and confronted him.
The prosecution said Hannah Payne “very aggressively” ran up to Kenneth Herring’s car, cursed at him, started punching the man through his window, took out her gun, threatened to shoot him twice, and then followed through on her threat.
Hannah’s version of the story is Kenneth attacked her and she shot him in self-defense.
She also claimed she never pulled the trigger – the gun just went off during her confrontation with Kenneth.
What’s even more heartbreaking in this case is a state corrections officer with medic training suggested Kenneth Herring was having some type of medical emergency – a diabetic shock or something of that nature at the time of the accident.
Herring was disoriented, displayed red-orange eyes, and had walked around his truck several times.
But, Hannah Payne assumed he was drunk and killed him a short time after.
After the verdict was read, Hannah cried in court as the Herring family finally received justice for Kenneth.
Hannah will be sentenced on Friday, December 15.
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