In his request for a directed verdict, defense attorney James Champion argued that no evidence links Pyne, 22, to the bludgeoning death of his mother, Ruth Pyne, 51, in the garage of the family's Highland Township home in May 2011. But Oakland County Circuit Judge Leo Bowman, who has presided over t
the killing took place. The judge also noted wounds on Pyne's hands that medical experts said were consistent with someone bludgeoning another person, and medical testimony indicating Ruth Pyne was the victim of a "rage killing," typical of a slaying that occurs between two people who know each other.
The trial painted a picture of a family tortured by mental illness, with Ruth Pyne off her medications and suffering from psychosis and schizophrenia. She frequently threatened daughter Julia, now 12. Nine months before her death, she physically attacked Jeffrey Pyne, attempting to strangle him, rec
Champion questioned Oakland County's chief medical examiner, Ljubisa Dragovic, who said rage killings are typically committed by people furious with someone they know well. Ruth Pyne was bludgeoned more than a dozen times and stabbed 16 times.
