A planned initial appearance Friday in Carroll County Circuit Court by a Westminster woman indicted on murder charges in the killing of her husband has been canceled.
Gail Joy D’Anthony, 76, of the 300 block of Royer Road in Westminster, had an initial hearing scheduled for Friday, but it was canceled since she is now represented by the Carroll County Office of the Public Defender.
“The real reason for an initial appearance is to apprise the defendant of the nature of the charges that are pending, and to advise the defendant of their right to counsel,” said Carroll County State’s Attorney Haven Shoemaker. “So, if an attorney enters his or her appearance ahead of time, there’s no need for the [initial appearance], and presumably counsel would advise the defendant about the pending charges.”
The next time D’Anthony is scheduled to appear in court is Aug. 16 to decide a trial date.
D’Anthony is now being represented by John Lyle Slater and Thomas Charles Nugent, Jr., according to court records. They did not return requests for comment.
The state’s attorney’s office issued a news release June 23 stating that D’Anthony had been arrested June 21 in Cumberland, Allegany County, and charged in the March 1 killing of her husband, John D’Anthony III, 72, at their Westminster home.
According to the news release, Westminster police and emergency medical personnel were called to the D’Anthony home March 1 for a cardiac arrest report and when they arrived, they found John D’Anthony dead. His body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner where an autopsy determined that he suffered extensive injuries, including blunt force trauma throughout his body, lacerations to his mouth, a broken neck, a broken right rib, two black eyes and large contusions to his hands and forearms, the news release said. The medical examiner determined that John D’Anthony’s injuries were not the result of a fall or a natural death and ruled his death a homicide, according to the news release.
Gail D’Anthony was indicted July 7 on charges of first- and second-degree murder and vulnerable adult abuse of a family member, court documents state.