Trial of former attorney accused of killing mother begins

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Former attorney and now accused killer Richard Merritt showed no emotion in a DeKalb County Superior courtroom Thursday.

It was a tale of two very different sides during opening arguments in the murder trial. The prosecution painted him as a conman with a temper.

“Starting sometime in 2014, 2015 several of his clients started coming out of the woodwork recording that he was stealing,” DeKalb County Prosecutor Helen Pott said.

Meanwhile, the defense argued that the state is trying to weave a story together out of nothing and that there is no forensic evidence, like fingerprints or DNA, connecting him to his mother’s murder.

“There will be no blood of Mr. Merritt around this scene, and you will also hear that Mr. Merritt voluntarily gave his DNA to be considered in this case,” Assistant Public Defender Heidi Wolfgruber said.

Merritt first made headlines in 2019 after pleading guilty to defrauding several of his clients during his time as an attorney. After he was sentenced to 15 years he failed to turn himself in.

Authorities said he cut off his ankle monitor, stabbed his mother, Shirley Merritt to death, and took off in her SUV prompting a nationwide manhunt.

Merritt’s ex-wife Jenine Minicozzie testified that she was married to the defendant for 19 years and he had a temper while drinking.

“I divorced my ex-husband when I found out about his double life and his crimes and what he had done to all those people and what he had done to us,” Minicozzie said.

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