Torres and Candice Boles, a couple indicted in the death of their 3-year old daughter, Andraia, were set to appear Thursday in Liberty County Superior Court.
Instead, the case was continued after it was determined that Candice Boles no longer had the representation of a public attorney.
Liberty Superior Court Judge Charles P. Rose listened as Torres Boles’ attorney, John Ely, explained that Candice Boles’ former attorney, Earl J. Duncan, no longer was under contract to represent clients within this jurisdiction.
Candice Boles stands accused of one count each of cruelty to children and being a party to murder. Her husband faces one count of felony murder and one count of cruelty to children.
In testimony that came out during an April hearing, Hinesville Police Department Det. Doug Snider alleged the couple regularly kept their toddler locked in a bathroom for hours at a time while Torres Boles went to work and Candice Boles attended school. In February, the young girl clogged a toilet and flooded the house. The alleged physical abuse that led to her death reportedly came at her father’s hands as punishment. Authorities allege Candice Boles knew of the abuse and did nothing.
Torres Boles had been taken Thursday from the Liberty County Jail to the Justice Center and was set to appear before a judge for his arraignment. However, the arraignment was delayed because, according to Ely, the case likely would go to a jury trial, and the couple probably would be tried together.
The judge called Ely and Atlantic Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Melissa Poole to his bench. After a brief discussion, Rose continued the case, giving the public defenders’ office an opportunity to assign Candice Boles a new attorney. According to Ely, the process has to be filed through the public defender's main office in Atlanta, but it will to be expedited as soon as possible, given the nature of the case and the possibility of having the trial before a jury by mid-August.
Several other cases once represented by Duncan had to be continued as well.