Trial set for Hunter Tatum, husband of pregnant woman shot dead in Prattville
PRATTVILLE — A trial date has been set in a high profile Prattville case where a man is charged in the deaths of his wife and the couple’s unborn son.
Hunter Tatum, 25, of Prattville faces capital murder charges. In October, he was charged after his wife, Summer, was shot in what Prattville police investigators say was an episode of domestic violence.
The trial is set to begin June 12, 2023, courthouse records show. Two weeks have been set aside for the proceeding, which includes a guilt phase and, if the jury convicts, a penalty phase. In capital murder cases, the jury must determine whether a convicted person would face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
He has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
Summer Tatum, 26, was six months pregnant when she was shot twice in the head in the couple's home on Sunset Court just after midnight on Oct. 18. Tatum was taken to a Montgomery hospital, where her baby — a boy she had planned to name Everett — was delivered in an emergency procedure but did not survive.
More:Friends remember Summer Tatum
The state will seek the death penalty.
"If the facts surrounding this case do not rise to the level of the death penalty, we don't need to have the death penalty in the state of Alabama," Chief Assistant District Attorney C.J. Robinson said, just after Tatum was indicted in March.
Circuit Judge Ben Fuller has put a gag order in place in the case. That means attorneys and prosecutors cannot comment on the case outside of court action or court documents. (Robinson made his comments before the gag order was in place.)
More:'I'll do anything': Security audio captures Summer Tatum begging for her life before 2 gunshots
More:Childhood friends say slain mother-to-be Summer Tatum was happy, had picked out name for son
Tatum has remained in the Autauga Metro Jail since his arrest shortly after the deaths. He is being held under no bond, standard in a capital case.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Hunter Tatum: Prattville, Alabama trial set; charged in wife's murder
