NC woman charged with fatally shooting her mother in the head wants a court hearing
An Orange County woman accused of fatally shooting her mother in the head early Sunday morning had her first hearing in court Monday afternoon.
Paula Lee Decoteau, 51, is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, and assault on a government official. She is accused of shooting her mother around midnight Sunday at a house on Spruce Pine Trail in eastern Orange County.
Deputies found 75-year-old Cheryl Garner Medlin with a single shot to the forehead, according to a sheriff’s office release. Medlin died Sunday afternoon at Duke Hospital. An earlier charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury could be dropped, because Medlin died, Orange County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Nieman said.
Decoteau appeared before a District Court judge Monday in a yellow jail jumpsuit and orange flip-flops with her hands shackled at her waist. She was accompanied by several deputies and remained quiet as the judge explained the penalty that she could face.
She later nodded and spoke quietly to her attorney, public defender Dana Graves, but did not express any emotion as Nieman gave some details about the case.
Graves requested a probable cause hearing to determine whether the charges are accurate. The hearing was set for Jan. 5.
Decoteau will remain in the Orange County jail, where she is being held without bail. If convicted on the murder charge, she could face life in prison without parole. The only other possible sentence in North Carolina is the death penalty, which Nieman pledged not to seek when he becomes district attorney next year.
A single shot, previous calls
Two other people in the home at the time of the shooting, but in a different part of the house told deputies they heard the mother and daughter arguing before a single gunshot was fired.
They did not see the shooting, deputies said, but Decoteau came into the room where they were after the shooting and took their cell phones. She “did not allow them to leave the room while she decided what to do next,” the release stated.
After 15 to 30 minutes, Decoteau let them leave the room and call 911, the release stated. One person was able to secure a .22-caliber rifle that may have been used in the shooting until deputies arrived, according to the release.
Decoteau also is accused of kicking a deputy in the chest when he arrested her, it said.
Sheriff’s Office records showed deputies have responded to 20 calls for service since 2018 at the home on Spruce Pine Trail or for incidents involving Decoteau, spokeswoman Alicia Stemper told The News & Observer in an email.
She could not immediately provide details about those calls, Stemper said.
Sunday’s shooting was said to be “domestic in nature,” according to the news release.
Decoteau’s criminal record showed she was convicted in January 2019 on a misdemeanor hit and run charge in Durham County. She was sentenced to probation and referred to drug court, state corrections records showed.
Her only prior conviction, in 2007, was a misdemeanor assault on a government official charge in Orange County. She was sentenced to probation and community service in that case.
Anyone with information about Sunday’s shooting can call Orange County Sheriff’s Office lead investigator, Lt. Dawn Hunter, at 919-245-2907.
This story was originally published December 12, 2022 at 2:46 PM.
