Hearing set today in Duplin murder
By From staff reports
Published in News on December 2, 2011 1:46 PM
KENANSVILLE -- A probable cause hearing was scheduled for today in Duplin County District Court for Danny Gwaltney, 55, of Calypso, who was charged in the Sept. 23 shooting death of a Dudley man.
However, it will be after the first of the year before the case goes to the grand jury, said Ernie Lee, district attorney for the Fourth Prosecutorial District.
No action will be taken today because the scheduling is merely an administrative or clerical matter since probable cause had already been found by the magistrate's office, Lee said.
Gwaltney, who has been in the Duplin County Jail since Sept. 23, was charged with an open count of murder in the shooting death of Donald Beaman, 46, of Dudley.
At the time of the incident, Duplin County Sheriff Blake Wallace said Beaman was shot with a handgun at the Gwaltney residence on South Center Street in Calypso, near the Calypso Town Hall.
The two men knew each other and the shooting occurred following a confrontation between them when Gwaltney pulled out a .22 caliber pistol and shot Beaman, Wallace said.