Lacy Boles Murder Trial - Day 2 | LIVE

Case background

## The Death of Daniel Lee Akers: Murder or Suicide? ### A Comprehensive Case Background **Defendant:** Lacy Jolee Boles **Victim:** Daniel Lee Akers, 36 **Court:** Superior Court of Paulding County, Georgia **Case Number:** 20-CR-001378-P2 **Presiding Judge:** Chief Judge Dean C. Bucci **Date of Incident:** December 22, 2019 **Location:** Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia **Principal Charges:** Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault **Defense Attorney:** Brian Steel **Plea:** Not Guilty **Trial Date:** November 9, 2026 --- # 1. INTRODUCTION: A DEATH THREE DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS In the early morning hours of December 22, 2019, just three days before Christmas, emergency responders were dispatched to a home in Dallas, Georgia, following a report that a man had shot himself. Inside the residence, authorities discovered 36-year-old Daniel Lee Akers dead from a gunshot wound to the head. His wife, Lacy Jolee Boles, reportedly told investigators that Akers had taken his own life. What initially appeared to be a tragic suicide would eventually become the subject of a homicide investigation, a murder indictment, years of legal proceedings, and a highly anticipated criminal trial. According to the Paulding County Sheriff's Office, investigators became suspicious almost immediately after arriving at the home. Detectives examining the scene identified inconsistencies between the account provided by Boles and the physical evidence they observed. Although the emergency call had been dispatched as a possible suicide, investigators were unwilling to accept that explanation without further examination. Akers' body was transported to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Atlanta for an autopsy. The results would take months to reach investigators. On May 29, 2020, more than five months after Akers' death, detectives received the medical examiner's findings. According to the sheriff's office, the examination determined that the fatal gunshot wound was not self-inflicted. The death was classified as a homicide. That same day, detectives arrested Boles, then 37 years old, and charged her in connection with her husband's death. Prosecutors contend that Boles deliberately shot Akers and attempted to disguise the killing as a suicide. Boles has consistently denied the murder allegations. Her defense maintains that Akers did, in fact, take his own life and that investigators reached the wrong conclusion. The case presents a fundamental dispute over what happened inside the couple's home during the final hours of Daniel Akers' life. Was Akers responsible for his own death, as his wife maintains? Or did Boles intentionally kill her husband and attempt to conceal the crime? Nearly seven years after the shooting, those competing accounts are at the center of a murder trial in Paulding County Superior Court. The case has also attracted attention because of an unusual development during an earlier attempt to bring Boles to trial. In June 2026, jury selection was disrupted after a prospective juror independently researched the case using ChatGPT and reportedly shared information with other prospective jurors. The incident resulted in the dismissal of the jury pool and the postponement of the proceedings. With a new jury selected in November 2026, the case has returned to court, where prosecutors must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Akers was murdered and that Boles was responsible. --- # 2. THE VICTIM: DANIEL LEE AKERS Daniel Lee Akers was born on May 15, 1983, in New Jersey. He eventually made his home in Dallas, Georgia, a community located northwest of Atlanta in Paulding County. At the time of his death, Akers was 36 years old and worked in the sheet metal industry. According to his obituary and subsequent reporting, he was associated with Sheet Metal Workers Local 85 and worked with R.F. Knox, a company involved in commercial mechanical construction. Akers was also a father of five children. His death, occurring just days before Christmas, devastated his family and left his children without their father. Following the announcement of Boles' arrest in 2020, members of Akers' family spoke publicly about their disbelief that he had died by suicide. Relatives told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Akers loved life and was devoted to his children. They rejected the suggestion that he would intentionally leave his family behind. These statements were expressions of the family's personal knowledge and beliefs about Akers. They were not, by themselves, forensic evidence establishing the manner of his death. Nevertheless, their reaction illustrates how

Added by Trial Empire staff. Shared across broadcasts covering this case.