SALISBURY, N.C. — A judge in Salisbury has ordered a Mooresville woman held in jail without bond after a prosecutor outlined the evidence that she had killed a woman she considered a rival.
Marlene Johnson said nothing as the prosecutor made the case for keeping her in jail.
Outlining the evidence they found at the home of her alleged victim, Shirley Oierce, some of Pierce's family cried as the prosecutor described how the knife blade had broken off in her neck.
She suggested to six years where Johnson had stalked Pierce because she thought Pierce was having an affair with her husband.
The prosecutor said Johnson had violated at least two court orders to stay away from Pierce and sent her threatening text messages, and the prosecutor said Johnson had also broken into her estranged husband's apartment and tore up his clothes.
After the hearing, Pierce's friends, who had packed the courtroom, boiled the prosecutor's case down to the basics.
"To me she's a danger to the rest of the family actually and other people," said friend Dan Johnson.
"It's not easy taking someone's life but we definitely don't feel like she should have been out on the streets," said friend Peggy Culp.
Johnson's attorney countered by saying that there may be motive but no physical evidence tying her to the murder. He asked the judge not to jump to conclusions, but she had clearly heard enough -- ordering Johnson held without bond for now.
As they left the courtroom, Johnson's friends and family politely declined to say any more.