A Baldwin County Circuit Court judge dismissed a burglary charge Friday against the Foley woman accused of entering Elberta Elementary School armed with a handgun in February and threatening her sister, while allowing more serious charges to proceed to a grand jury.
Judge Scott Taylor ruled there was enough evidence to send charges of attempted murder, making a terrorist threat, and possessing a deadly weapon on school grounds forward for grand jury review against 51-year-old Barbara Grice, who was indicted last month in connection with the Feb. 25 incident. Dropping the burglary charge represented a modest legal win for Grice, whose attorney, John Beck, also unsuccessfully argued to have the attempted murder charge dismissed as well, contending there was no testimony that a shot had been fired at or toward any specific person.
Grice is separately facing federal charges of possessing a firearm in a school zone and discharging a firearm in a school zone.
According to testimony from Baldwin County Sheriffs Office investigator Andrew Ashton, Grice entered the school through a back door near the cafeteria that had a history of not closing properly. A school employee who spotted Grice outside alerted Grices sister, who worked in the cafeteria, that something seemed wrong. The sister locked herself inside a back office as Grice made her way into the building.
Once inside, Grice brandished a .38-caliber revolver and made a direct threat, according to Ashtons testimony. Authorities later recovered one bullet and four shell casings from inside the building, with photographic evidence showing the bullet had ricocheted off two walls and passed through two stacks of plastic plates before coming to rest in the kitchen, where a janitor found it roughly a week later. When officers took Grice into custody in the schools courtyard, her revolver had one live round left in its five-shot cylinder and the hammer was cocked.
Grice initially told investigators she was upset with her sister over how their mother had been treated, and also claimed her deceased husband was outside the building trying to get in, according to Ashtons account. Officers described her as appearing intoxicated and distraught at the time of her arrest.
Grice, who remains held on million bail, has been ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation through the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. During an earlier bail hearing, she appeared confused about the charges against her, at times placing her face in her hands and closing her eyes as the judge set her bond. She arrived at Fridays hearing in a wheelchair after her attorney said she had dislocated her hip while in custody at the Baldwin County jail.
The case remains pending as prosecutors prepare to present the more serious charges to a grand jury for further review.