BRUNSWICK, Ga. – A woman who testified that her husband abducted, assaulted and killed a 6-year-old Brunswick boy and who was prepared to do the same against her son will now face a trial on the same charges.
Peggy Edenfield, her husband, David, and adult son, George, were all charged with false imprisonment, sexual assault and murder after Christopher Barrios' naked body was found stuffed in a garbage bag in March 2007.
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The state made Peggy Edenfield a plea offer on charges in her role in Christopher's death. During a status hearing in her case with Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett on Monday afternoon, she rejected the offer to plead guilty in exchange for 30 years in prison and elected to face a trial.
While the death penalty is still off the table, a guilty verdict could land Peggy Edenfield in prison for life.
The Barrios family was not happy that Peggy Edenfield could get a lesser penalty than her husband and called Monday's development a victory.
David Edenfield, 62, was convicted and sentenced to death in October 2009. George Edenfield was found incompetent to stand trial last summer.
According to the plea offer Peggy Edenfield signed in November 2007, the state would remove the death penalty and would not seek life in prison without parole as options in her case if she agreed to testify against her husband and son and tell investigators what happened to Christopher's clothes.
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The agreement called for the state and defense to either agree on a plea agreement or take her case to trial after the cases against David and George Edenfield were completed.
Going forward with another trial, attorneys for both sides said they would like to explore a change of venue -- either moving the trial to another county or importing a jury from elsewhere in the state.
"I'm going to be there, guaranteed. That won't stop me," Christopher's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, said of moving the trial. "Just like the mailman, rain, sleet or snow, I'm going to be there. ... I would walk through fire in order to see them get their justice."