Woman accused of shooting man to death after traffic stop claims she feared for her life

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — The woman accused of killing a man she followed after a hit-and-run said she feared for her life in new testimony.

Channel 2′s Tom Jones was in the courtroom in Clayton County Monday where the defendant got to tell her side of the story.

Hannah Payne, 25, is accused of shooting 62-year-old Kenneth Herring to death in 2019 after she saw him speed away from a hit-and-run crash. She’s facing murder and several other charges.

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Prosecutors have said she followed Herring even though a 911 dispatcher told her not to.

Payne’s attorney said she’s been anxious to get on the stand and explain to the jury in her own words what happened that day.

On Monday, Payne told a jury that Herring cursed at her and started punching her when she tried to get him to return to the scene.

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Payne argued that she was the peaceful one and that Herring t was the one who was angry and aggressive.

“(He said,) ‘Who the F are you?’ And I told him I was nobody. I had police on my phone and they wanted us to go back to the scene,” Payne said. “He knocked my phone out of my hand and he grabbed me by my waist and he pulled me into the vehicle.”

Payne testified that when Herring revved his engine on Riverdale Road and started driving away, she pulled out her gun. She said that’s when he grabbed it.

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“And as he’s pulling it is when the gun went off,” Payne said.

Payne got emotional listening to her 911 call.

“Ma’am Ma’am. he just pulled the trigger of the gun in my hand,” Payne told dispatchers.

Witnesses testified Payne cursed at Herring and began punching him.

Witness Ashley Jackson said Payne shot Herring, not the other way around.

“She tried to say she didn’t pull the trigger. He was trying to pull her gun,” Jackson said. “I never saw him do that.”

Payne said she had bruises from the attack and her shirt was torn. Prosecutors said Herring was trying to defend himself from her attack.

Payne faces life without parole if she is convicted.

Officer-involved shooting under investigation after GBI called to Fayette County The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating an officer-involved shooting in Fayette County, the department told Channel 2 Action News.

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