Judge sentences Bonner to 20 years probation, five years house arrest for attempted murder, neglect of a disabled person

Bonner received 10 years of probation for attempted murder and another consecutive 10 years for neglect of a disabled person. She was also ordered to spend 60 days per sentence in jail, with credit for time served.

Bonner will be under house arrest for the first five years of her probation and will be required to wear a GPS leg monitor, which she will have to pay for at her own expense. The only time she will be allowed to leave her home will be for medical or legal purposes, the judge ordered.

Malcom further ordered that Bonner is to have no contact with her mother unless or until her mother requests for that to change.

Before Malcom pronounced sentence, he told the courtroom that the “peace of mind” of Mrs. Couch weighed heavily in his decision.

“I am taking her emotions into consideration,” he said. “The times I saw her (in the courtroom) I could tell she was suffering.” And he noted that she had said from the witness stand that she did not want to see her daughter sent to prison. He said he hoped Bonner’s sentence would help her live her remaining years in peace.

Mrs. Couch was not present in the courtroom.

The sentence was considerably less than that recommended by the District Attorney’s office, who had asked the judge to give Bonner the maximum penalty of 30 years, with 15 to be served in prison and another 15 on probation.

When asked by by Bonner's attorney Jim Smith if the ability to attend services at her church (New Life Church in Crawford) might be added to Bonner’s house arrest stipulations, Malcom told him that he “wanted to see compliance first,” and that after a period of time he might consider a change to allow for that.

Previous criminal history

Sentencing began about 9:30 a.m. Friday, with a surprise from prosecutors. Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent Katie Walker was called to the stand to testify about Bonner’s previously undisclosed criminal history.

Agent Walker told the judge that Bonner had been arrested 36 times during the 1980s and the 1990s on mostly “bad check” (deposit account fraud) charges. She was convicted 11 times on the misdemeanor charges and once on a felony charge of financial transaction card fraud involving an auto, according to Walker.

When asked about what she had witnessed during the investigation and trial of Bonner, Walker said that she had seen a family “hurt, upset and in pain and grief” over what a loved one and family member had done to another family member that they also loved.

“I believe she selfishly intended to hurt Mrs. Couch and she should spend time paying for the crimes she committed,” Walker said.

In addition to this, Bonner’s daughter, Jamie Bray, testified later that morning that her mother had stolen her checkbook and written checks on her account, causing her (Bray) to be served with five bad check warrants. She said though her mother eventually admitted to what she had done, she did not press charges against her mother because family members, including her grandmother, did not want her to do so. Bray said that though the charges against her were dismissed, the matter continues to cause her to be “red flagged” in her financial transactions.

Family and friends torn apart

The state called Bonner’s sister, Paula Stuchell, to the stand to testify about what Bonner’s crimes had done to their mother, who currently lives with her.

“She is broken,” Stuchell said. “It tore us all up. It is hard to see mama sit and cry…I wish we had Renee back – we love Renee.”

Stuchell added that they had already lost their father and their brother, Jeff, “and now this, this is hard.”

According to previous testimony, Bonner came to Stuchell’s home in June 2017 to care for their mother while Stuchell and her family attended a wedding in Florida.

It was during that time (June 22 – 26) that Bonner began administering increasing amounts of painkillers to her mother.

During the trial, DA Parks White noted that Bonner held power of attorney for her mother. Couch, who had suffered a stroke in 2008, was placed in hospice care with Homestead Hospice (where Bonner was employed in the personnel office) in early 2017 after doctors determined that she “wasn’t a candidate for surgery.” Mrs. Couch had made it known in her legal wishes in March 2017 that she wanted to have her life extended “as long as possible.” But White noted that Couch’s end-of-life wishes changed on June 1, when she signed documents saying, she no longer wanted her life prolonged or to receive life-sustaining/death-delaying treatment if her agent(s) believed the burden of those treatments outweighed the expected benefit.

Couch had been prescribed morphine, but none had been given to her until Bonner arrived. White said Bonner used this stay as an opportunity to kill her mother. And while the effort failed, the DA noted that the elderly woman went from an alert, responsive state to an almost comatose condition during that time. Bonner documented her doses on her mom — papers that were entered into evidence at trial — and used a full bottle of morphine, with family members observing that Bonner was giving one full mL of morphine to her mother within 10 minutes of each other.

“We know the entire 30 mL bottle was administered to Shirley Couch by the defendant, almost all of which had to be given on Sunday,” White stated during the trial. Bonner also crushed painkillers, mixed them with water and administered them through a flush in her mother’s mouth. She continued administering painkillers while her mother slept and placed a fentanyl patch on her. During this time, Bonner told family members that Couch was dying from “renal failure.”

And Bray testified during the trial that her mother told her that “your grandmother will be dead by the morning.” She inquired about her mother’s insurance policy and began planning her mother’s funeral, noting that 453 people had attended her dad’s funeral.

Bonner’s niece had her father call coroner Julie Phillips to come check on her grandmother on Sunday, June 26.

“Aware that law enforcement is coming to the home, defendant leaves the house,” said White. “She does not return and never bothers to check on her mother again….Physicians involved in the treatment of Shirley Couch determine she was suffering the effects of an opiate overdose.”

Bonner’s brother, Scott Couch, followed Stuchell to the stand at the sentencing hearing, saying his mother is not doing well at all at this time and is “torn and heartbroken” by all that has happened.

He said his mother frequently has nightmares in which she cries out, both at night and in the daytime, and that he has witnessed these on visits to Stuchell’s home. He said he has witnessed her having imaginary conversations with Bonner, asking her why she would do such a thing to her.

He also said Bonner’s actions have created a rift in the family.

“We’re torn apart and I don’t know if we’ll ever heal,” Couch said.

He said he and Bonner had been close growing up and he admitted that she had been there for him in the past.

“We were the closest and I worshipped the ground she walked on,” he said. “Now all I feel is anger and hurt.”

He told the judge that Agent Walker’s testimony that morning was the first time he had heard that Bonner had been arrested 36 times in the past. “I knew of a couple of times,” he said, adding that he also knew she had had a hard time raising three girls as a single mother and that their mother had helped her to raise them. And he pointed out that she was estranged from two of her three now-grown children.

“We were raised that if you do something wrong, you pay for it,” he said. “If the law sees fit that she serves time, then she must.” Couch told the judge that Bonner had called him on Thursday, June 22, 2017, while she was caring for their mother but instead of mentioning Mrs. Couch’s declining health, she questioned him about her insurance policy. “Then to deny she made that call is unbelievable,” he said, adding that he did not hear about his mother’s condition until Sunday, when his brother called to tell him.

Show of support

When Bonner entered the courtroom in handcuffs prior to the start of the proceedings, those seated behind the defendant’s table stood in a show of support for her until she was seated.

Following testimony from the DA’s witnesses, Bonner’s attorney Jim Smith called 10 people to the stand as character witnesses over the course of a couple of hours. Most witnesses were either fellow church members from New Life or co-workers from Homestead Hospice.

All of them described her as a loving, caring and supportive person, with many saying she’d give anyone in need the shirt off her back and that she also often spoke of caring for her mother, though most said they knew of her mother only through conversations with Bonner about her.

Morgan Rich testified that Bonner has been friends of his parents for many years and that she is “like a second mother” to him. Rich, who also attends church with Bonner, said she often counseled fellow church and community members in need and also served as the church’s secretary/treasurer.

And he, like the rest of the defense witnesses, appeared unfazed by the revelation of her past arrests or about her frayed relationship with her daughters.

Lisa Rich took the stand and testified that Bonner had helped her and her family throughout her diagnosis and treatment for thyroid cancer and that the pair have become best friends over the past few years.

“She’s been my rock,” Ms. Rich said. “…she is not only my sister in Christ, she is my sister.”

Patsy Cruce, a registered nurse with Homestead for the past seven years, testified to Bonner’s “wonderful relationship with employees,” and that she has always been known to be a very loving and helpful person.

Cruce grew defiant on the stand, telling the judge that she felt as if Bonner were being put on trial again by the mention of her past crimes.

“How many of us could say we’ve never done wrong?” she said. “We’re talking about a woman’s life here. I am asking for leniency for my friend and that she not be taken away from her husband, her church and her company.”

Cruce said she “believed in her heart” that Bonner did not do the things she has been convicted of.

“We will always support Renee regardless of where she is,” Cruce said.

Homestead administrator Myron Paulk said he has known Bonner for the past five years and worked with her daily.

He pointed out that Bonner was a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer for children in the state’s foster care system. He also said she was “the shoulder” everyone turned to in times of need.

“She was the one to talk to (employees) about their problems, not because I asked her to, it’s just what she did,” he said. “This has been tough for a lot of people, not just her family, a lot of people at our office are heartbroken.”

Witness Tommy Rich said he has known Bonner for more than 50 years.

“She is one heck of a lady and she’d help anyone, she helped my wife,” he said, adding that even while in jail she had called to check on them. He told the judge that Bonner didn’t have a mean bone in her body.

Rich was asked by Assistant DA Michael Coveney how he felt about a child abuse allegation previously testified to by her daughter Jamie.

“That’s none of my business,” Rich declared.

Mr. Rich also claimed that the DA’s office brought up the “bad checks” to “change people’s minds about her.”

Cindy Williams, another close friend and fellow church-goer, said Bonner was a huge asset to the church where she did everything from maintain financial records and organize the church bulletin, to delivering flowers and even cleaning toilets, when necessary.

Williams said she and her family had often gone to karaoke parties and then out to eat with Bonner and her mother and had observed them having a good relationship.

Another witness, Virginia Smallwood, said she has known Bonner for 20 years since she married her first cousin, George Bonner, and also worked with her at a previous job for 10 years. She testified that Bonner had taken care of her mother daily when the pair worked together.

“I just can’t see her serving any time for this,” she said. “As for the kids, I ‘get’ it about (her) kids, they’ll go against you in a heartbeat.”

Bonner’s former pastor, Rev. James “Jim” Olds, said he would like to see his former parishioner doing community service, rather than serving jail time. “I feel like she’d be a better servant with probation and community service where she can continue to serve the community,” he said.

A daughter’s rebuttal

After the defense’s character witnesses were finished, Judge Malcom agreed to allow one final witness for the prosecution to take the stand for rebuttal – that witness was Bray, Bonner’s oldest daughter.

Bray, teeth clenched, looked out upon the courtroom and told the judge, “I wish I knew the person they talked about.”

She said she had never known that side of her mother while going through her life. Bray said her first memory was when she was just 3 years old.

“She (Bonner) got in my face and pulled me by my hair across the floor to put me in a chest while she sat on it and wouldn’t let me out,” Bray said, stone-faced. “That’s my first memory.” She said that she continued to experience similar treatment as she was growing up and even after she was grown.

“My grandfather called me her ‘whipping post,’” she said. Bray said the final straw in her relationship with her mother came when Bonner allegedly went to strike her while she was pregnant with her oldest daughter.

“I thought, ‘I have more things to think about now,’” she said, and walked away.

She said that her mother has “issues” and would never admit to what she had done to her grandmother.

When asked if the defense would like to also call a witness for rebuttal, Smith declined.

Closing arguments

Attorney Smith began his closing arguments in the sentencing phase by saying that he had presented a “good congregation of support” for his client.

“This is a person who has a family, a supportive home, she is 65 years old and she and George depend on each other and we heard about her community service,” Smith said. “Maybe she did write checks 30 years ago that she shouldn’t have (but) she has had steady employment, helped people at work and she has family who wants to help her and friends; that speaks volumes I think.” He added that Bonner did not have a prior violent record and had raised three children as a single parent after their father left.

“She has a very positive attitude,” Smith continued. “She has been the life of her church, business and fellow employees. She has done plenty of good.”

He called her criminal convictions in the past “a bump in the road” that came at a bad time in her life.

“She's done well in the last 20 years,” Smith said. “Probation is probably just as important a consideration as confinement in this case.” He also stated that she didn’t benefit financially from her crime.

“Mercy is love in action,” Smith concluded. “It is not earned or even deserved.” He said he believed that mercy was appropriate in this case as “Mrs. Shirley” said she didn’t want her daughter to go to prison.

Assistant DA Coveney told Judge Malcom that Bonner did not own up to what she had done but had instead blamed it on “some elaborate family plot” against her.

“Deep down, we all know what is right and what is wrong,” he said. “Clearly, she wasn’t thinking of her community when she tried to kill her mother.”

Coveney pointed out that for every action there is a consequence and that there was really “no sentence proportionate to what she has done.”

“Mrs. Shirley will forever wonder why her daughter fed her drugs, forever wonder why her daughter wanted her dead,” he said, adding that her mother had pleaded with her to stop while she drifted in and out of consciousness.

Malcom took a short recess and came back to pronounce sentence. Before doing so, he went back over some of the details of the case, noting that Bonner had waived her right to a jury trial, agreeing to a bench trial in which he (Malcom) would decide her guilt or innocence and if found guilty, her sentence.

Malcom noted that Bonner was the only one who gave medications to her mother during the June 22 – 26, 2017 timeframe; that not one doctor or nurse gave authority to exceed the maximum dose and that some of the medications were even given to her mother while she was unconscious. He also noted that the only treatment necessary to “clear” the mother’s condition was for the medications to be stopped and fluids administered.

He said that ultimately there was no answer to the question of why an elderly woman had been subjected to the physical and mental suffering she had gone through; near death after 96 hours under Bonner’s care and then recovered and home from the hospital less than a week later.