Recap of Day One of Pretrial Motion Hearings in McDaniel Murder Case

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The first day of pre-trial motions wrapped up on Monday for accused killer Stephen McDaniel.

He’s on trial for the murder of Mercer Law graduate Lauren Giddings.

Some of the biggest issues today were whether Stephen McDaniel voluntarily talked to police before being arrested, and whether a search of his apartment was consensual.

Macon Police Detective David Patterson was one of many to take the stand on Monday in the pretrial hearing.

When he testified, he told the court when he interviewed McDaniel and followed him back to his apartment.

Before he could get there, he smelled an odor coming from a trash can nearby.

Officers found Giddings’ torso inside of the trash.

To keep information from spreading, officers took witnesses to the detective bureau to give written statements.

McDaniel was included in the group.

Patterson says he asked McDaniel to search inside of his apartment just because he knew Giddings and he was her neighbor.

McDaniel didn’t want to let police search his apartment without him being there, but after police asked again, he let them in.

Police found knives, swords, and firearms inside of the apartment.

According to McDaniel’s attorney, McDaniel never went back inside of his apartment after the consensual search.

He spent the majority of the day with at the detective’s bureau or outside of the apartment talking with police.

According to Patterson, McDaniel didn’t actually get arrested until he admitted to sneaking into his neighbor’s apartment and taking condoms.

The hearing of the pretrial is expected to last for the next several days.

Monday marks day one of five days the court has set aside to listen to dozens of motions filed by the defense.

The first witness called to the stand was Bibb County Superior Court Judge Edgar Ennis. Ennis signed the search warrants back in June 2011 that allowed law enforcement to search McDaniel’s apartment, car, and collect DNA evidence.

The defense claims Judge Ennic was not neutral or detached when he signed the search warrants. McDaniel’s defense attorney, Frank Hogue, says McDaniel was an intern in Judge Ennis’ office and the judge knew him.

When asked if he realized he knew McDaniel, Ennis said, “There was something about the name that rang a bell.”