Formal charges are expected next week for the woman accused of shooting her hospitalized husband

Prosecutors expect to decide by the end of next week whether formal charges will be filed against A A 76-year-old woman is accused of murdering her terminally ill husband at AdventHealth Hospital in Daytona Beach, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Police charged Ellen Gilland with first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. But prosecutors have not yet decided what charges to formally file against him, Assistant State Attorney Hetha Trigones said during a hearing Tuesday.

“The state is asking for a two-week pass,” Trigons said. “I expect the charges to be filed by the end of next week.”

Circuit Judge Karen Foxman explained the process to Gilland, why she had to be placed on the docket.

“Are you talking to me?” Gilland said while sitting in a wheelchair in front of the judge.

“Yes,” Foxman replied.

“I’m sorry. I’m hard of hearing,” Gilland responded.

The judge explained again.

“So the state hasn’t decided to file your case yet. They’re asking for a two-week pass,” Foxman said. “I imagine your attorney probably isn’t here because he entered a written plea of ​​not guilty. We had to put you on the docket because we didn’t have charging documents.”

With that, the brief hearing ended and Gilland was escorted out of the courtroom and returned to the Volusia County Branch Jail.

Gilland, of New Smyrna Beach, has been incarcerated since Jan. 21, when she fatally shot her 77-year-old husband, Jerry, in his hospital room, police said.

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Ellen Gilland will remain in jail

Foxman on Friday declined a request by Gilland’s defense attorneys, including Matthew Ferry, to set a $50,000 bond in the case, so he could have a chance at being released. Gilland has nieces he can live with and will not have access to firearms, Ferry said.

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Trigones opposed the setting of bond, saying Gilland pointed a gun at hospital staff and fired at police.

Daytona Beach Police Det. Colin Howell testified Friday that Jerry Gilland was shot in the left side of his head, behind his ear. She said Ellen Gilland grabbed the .38-caliber revolver and pulled the trigger while her husband grabbed her wrist.

Howell testified that when a nurse entered the room after the shooting, Gilland pointed the gun at her.

Then, according to the detective, a security guard entered the room.

“He told her, ‘I have a gun. You have to leave,’ and he also indicated that he would shoot her if she didn’t leave,” Howell testified.

According to a report, Gilland kept the .38-caliber revolver pointed at the door of the hospital room while he spoke with officers outside.

The 3.5-hour standoff ended when SWAT team members armed with firearms and another with a Taser entered the room, Howell testified. The team member tried to use the stun gun on Gilland, but missed and he fired his gun. Howell said the bullet struck the ceiling tile. They were then able to take him into custody.

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Ellen and Jerry Gilland are ‘happily married,’ believed to have planned the shooting

During the hearing on Friday, Dr. Jeffrey A. Danziger, a psychiatrist, testified for the defense that he did not believe Gilland was a threat to himself or the community. Danziger said Gilland, who had no criminal record prior to the incident, had no history of violence. According to a proposal, Gilland and her husband were “happily married” for 53 years. Gilland worked as a special education teacher in Volusia and Lake County, Danziger said.

Daytona Beach Police Chief Zachary Young said at a news conference after the incident that investigators believe the couple planned the shooting about three weeks ago.

She said Gilland’s sick husband wanted to shoot the handgun himself but “didn’t have the energy,” Young said, “so she had to carry it for him.”

Gilland planned to turn the gun on himself, but was unable to go through with it, he added.

This article originally appeared in the Daytona Beach News-Journal: The woman accused of shooting her husband at a Florida hospital is awaiting formal charges