Nurse indicted in shooting, kidnapping

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CONROE, Texas, June 27 (UPI) -- A Texas grand jury has indicted a Houston nurse accused of fatally shooting a mother and kidnapping her newborn son on a capital murder charge.

The Montgomery County grand jury indicted Verna Deann McClain, 31, who is accused of shooting Kala Golden Schuchardt, 28, of Spring outside a Spring pediatric clinic multiple times, then kidnapping her 3-day-old son, Keegan, in April, The Courier of Montgomery County reported.

If convicted, McClain could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole, The Courier said. Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon hasn't decide whether to seek the death penalty, a release from the District Attorney's Office said.

The baby was found safe hours after the shooting and kidnapping at the home of McClain's sister in Harris County.

McClain, who is being held without bond in Montgomery County Jail, is a licensed vocational nurse with no apparent criminal history, The Courier said. The newspaper said she reportedly had a miscarriage not long before the shooting and kidnapping and allegedly was trying to convince her fiance she was pregnant.

The fatal shooting of Schuchardt and the abduction of her baby appeared to be a "random choice" by McClain, law enforcement officials have said.

E. Tay Bond, one of McClain's defense attorneys, said they "stand firm in our belief that a sentence of death is not warranted. The community dealing with one death is enough, and another death would not serve any end for justice."