Three Walker County residents will face murder charges in separate trials next week. Walker County criminal trials will begin Monday, June 4. Trials will continue through June 9 and reconvene June 18-22.

All defendants were called before the court Friday, May 25, to enter pleas.

- A LaFayette man will be tried for murder a second time in the death of his stepson. Timothy Parm was tried and convicted of the murder in December 1996. He was sentenced to life in prison by Walker County Superior Court Judge Kristina Connelly.

“Because there was some question about the instructions that the judge gave the jury (in the first trial), a new trial was granted to him,” said District Attorney Herbert “Buzz” Franklin.

On July 27, 1996, Parm allegedly beat his stepson, Anthony Ballenger, with a baseball bat after the two had an argument. Ballenger, then 28, died from head injuries less than seven hours later.

- Leona Pierce, of Chickamauga, is accused of murdering her husband, Charles Earl Pierce. On Feb. 26, 1999, Mr. Pierce, then 70, was shot at close range with a .410-gauge shotgun.

Investigators said they suspected Mrs. Pierce early on, but didn’t have the evidence to charge her until her husband’s longtime friend, John Ross Wooten, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the slaying.

As a condition of a plea bargain, Wooten agreed to testify and help bring everyone involved in the crime to justice, said Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson. At the time of the arrest, the murder weapon was not recovered. However, forensic analysis proved a garment belonging to Wooten and found in his Woodcreek Drive apartment contained Mr. Pierce’s blood.

A Walker County grand jury indicted Wooten for murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Superior Court Judge Ralph Hill sentenced him to 10 years in a state penitentiary.

At the time of arrest, Wilson said he believed Mrs. Pierce played “a big part in the murder,” but would not discuss details of her involvement. Wilson said he didn’t think it was a contract killing.

The couple had been married 17 years.

- Matthew Lee Reynolds of Chickamauga is charged in the murder of John William Holmes, 29. Reynolds and Holmes were “branch kin” according to Reynolds.

The incident began when the two men argued over how Reynolds was cooking bacon. Reynolds allegedly stabbed Holmes in the chest with a kitchen knife. There was hostility between the two men because Reynolds had been staying at Holmes’ residence at 113 Circle T Farm Road in Chickamauga for three days and Holmes wanted him to leave.

Holmes’ wife, her stepmother and Holmes’ children witnessed the attack. Holmes’ wife called 911.

Reynolds was not employed because of a mental disability and had been in a state hospital “off and on,” Wilson said