Monitor Editor
LAKE BUTLER— A grand jury has indicted 56-year-old Anthony Lydell George for first-degree murder resulting from a March 19 shooting in Lake Butler.
Prosecutors had already charged Anthony with other charges relating to the shooting which killed one person, identified by the Union County Sheriff’s Office as 35-year-old William L. Hope.
However, Florida law requires a grand jury indictment for any defendant to be charged with first degree murder.
According to court papers George also shot two females in the Southwest 1st Terrace incident, one of which was his common law wife.
Prosecutors also filed a discovery exhibit related to the case which lists 22 witnesses, statements by the defendant to law enforcement and his videotaped testimony before the grand jury, as well as surveillance video and items seized during searches.
Judge Mitchell D. Bishop granted a state motion to compel the defendant to give investigators a saliva sample for DNA analysis. George’s next court date is in August for a case management conference.
