Suspect In Deadly Shooting In Gobles Headed To Trial

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Self-defense is being claimed by the suspect in a Gobles shooting death in June. At the preliminary hearing for Troy Taylor on Thursday in Van Buren County, his 14-year-old daughter testified her father had come to the home of her mother, who is also his ex-wife, in Gobles to drop off his 13-year-old son. The childen’s mother, Martina Smith, wasn’t home and they made several attempts to contact her. Later, they saw her headlights as her Jeep pulled into a public lake access nearby. When they went over there, the girl says she saw her mother and Timothy Henley engaged in a sex act, prompting her to yell at them and return to the house to pack bags for her and her brother to leave with Taylor. As they were leaving, the Jeep pulled up and Henley started punching Taylor’s car and trying to break in. After he broke out a window, Taylor shot him several times. The judge ruled there is enough evidence, and ordered Taylor to stand trial on a charge of open murder. He will be back in court September 4.