[chris]

Jessica Boynton survived with lasting injuries after she was found shot in Griffin, Georgia, on April 15, 2016, but no one was charged over the shooting after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found her wound was self-inflicted.

Jessica was 19 at the time. Her husband, Matthew Boynton, was in his early twenties and had been a Griffin Police Department patrol officer in Spalding County since he was sworn in on June 15, 2015. His grandfather, Wendell Beam, was a former county sheriff. The high school sweethearts had married young and had two sons, aged two years and eight months, who are not named here. They lived at the Ashford Place Apartments in Griffin, and their divorce was under way and had turned hostile.

Late on April 14, Matthew left the apartment to meet fellow Griffin officer Joshua Guthrie. He said Jessica sent him a text at about 1 a.m. on April 15 that read as a suicide threat, saying she could not go on and asking him to take care of the boys. Matthew said he drove back and heard two gunshots as he arrived, but did not enter because he was afraid of what he would find. Officers found Jessica unconscious in the master bedroom closet, which was locked from the inside, with Matthew's .40 caliber Glock service pistol under her body. There were two bullet holes and two casings in the closet wall.

Emergency room staff initially could not locate a gunshot wound and considered blunt force trauma. Jessica was flown to Atlanta Medical Center in critical condition, spent about a month in hospital and survived. Griffin police immediately asked the GBI to investigate, and agents reached the scene at about 3 a.m. on April 15, 2016.

During recorded questioning in the hours after the shooting, Matthew denied harming his wife. He repeated that he had heard two shots from outside, described her as suicidal and said he could not make himself go inside. He acknowledged an affair with a police dispatcher, said he believed Jessica had also had an affair and doubted that one child was biologically his. He also said he had been afraid she would shoot him and then kill herself.

After emerging from her coma, Jessica denied shooting herself during a hospital bed interview. She said the wound's position made a self-inflicted shot impossible and that she believed her husband was responsible. Reported gaps included no gunshot residue testing of her hands and no testing of his hands or clothing. Blood spatter was described as minimal, and her DNA was found on the gun. The GBI completed its investigation on August 30, 2016, and found the wound was self-inflicted. District Attorney Scott Ballard said there was not sufficient evidence to support any criminal proceeding, and Boynton returned to duty.

A separate case began after Jessica, later known as Jessica Lester, reported on December 19, 2016, that belongings taken while she was hospitalized, including clothing and an orthodontic retainer, had not been returned. Lt. Karen Yancy interviewed Boynton on January 5, 2017, and he denied having the property. On January 9, 2017, he submitted a written statement saying it had already been returned. A man who had obtained a bag of the items gave the clothing and retainer to police on May 11, 2017, and Lester's orthodontist confirmed on July 26, 2017, that the retainer was hers. Boynton was placed on administrative leave on July 28, 2017, and arrested by his own department the following day on two felony counts, false statements and writings and violation of oath of office. He resigned before the department completed his termination. A Spalding County grand jury returned a no bill on both counts on July 11, 2018, so the case never reached trial and Boynton was not convicted. The GBI finding that the wound was self-inflicted stands, and Jessica Lester continues to dispute it.

The video runs about 42 minutes and presents narrated analysis based on police interview-room footage. It covers the GBI interview of Matthew Boynton described above.