The grand jury charged Hulett with two counts of malice murder, as well as six additional counts of felony murder associated with two counts for aggravated assault, two counts for armed robbery, one count for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and four counts for possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herbert “Buzz” Franklin said Hulett’s arraignment hearing is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 11, at 9 a.m. in the Walker Courthouse, adding the hearing could be delayed.
“We are, of course, still considering very strongly the possibility of seeking the death penalty, and that will be made known before arraignment,” Franklin said. “If we do seek the death penalty, then the arraignment will likely be postponed.”
Franklin explained why Hulett was charged with eight counts of murder for the killing of two men.
“We don’t have degrees of murder in Georgia as they do in other states,” Franklin said. “We have what is called malice murder, which is the intentional taking of a human life without justification, litigation or excuse.”
“Felony murder is a little bit different,” he said. “If you are committing a felony, which puts someone else in danger and they end up dying because of the crime being committed, then you are charged with felony murder.”
Law enforcement officials said they believe Hulett shot the Whitfield County brothers while they were volunteering at Mountain Top Boys’ Home in Villanow. Hulett fled the scene in Larry Phelps’ red Ford F-150 and led authorities on a nationwide manhunt before his capture in Casa Grande, Ariz.
Hulett was captured at a convenience store where he expected to receive a wire transfer through Western Union, Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said.
In other grand jury proceedings:
According to court filings, the grand jury considered a total of 32 bills of indictment during its two day session on Monday and Tuesday and returned 31 true-bills and 1 no-bill.
After touring the Walker County jail, grand jury members decided a leak from the parking lot into the tunnel between the jail and courthouse needs repair. The grand jury also ruled compensation for court bailiffs should remain at $64 and the expense allowance for jurors, grand jurors and traverse jurors be increased to $35
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