Angel Bumpass, convicted of killing a 68-year-old Chattanooga man when she was a 13-year-old girl, is moving toward a new trial — but attorneys are wrangling over whether she might be released from prison until the new trial concludes.
The killing of Franklin Bonner was in 2009, and Bumpass was found guilty in 2019 at the age of 24 and sentenced to life in prison.
Her case has been featured on national TV and a true crime podcast and was the subject of a signature drive on change.org by hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom did not think she was capable of the killing at such a young age.
Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Tom Greenholtz granted Bumpass a new trial on Aug. 31, just a few days before being sworn in as an appeals court judge on Sept. 1.
Under newly sworn-in Criminal Court Judge Amanda Dunn, the case will be handled by Hamilton County’s new Chief Homicide Prosecutor Michael Dowd and newly appointed Executive Assistant District Attorney Kevin Loper.