Defense: Move accused NC nursing home shooter

CARTHAGE, N.C. — A defense attorney for the man accused of killing eight people at a North Carolina nursing home wants the suspect housed at a state prison rather than the local jail.

A hearing is scheduled for Friday in Moore County Superior Court to consider moving 46-year-old Robert Kenneth Stewart from the county’s jail to Central Prison in Raleigh.

Stewart was shot in the chest by a police officer during the shooting rampage at the Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation Center in Carthage last March.

Defense attorney Jonathan Megerian said Stewart received better care and is safer at Central Prison, which has a medical center for inmates. Holding Stewart in Raleigh would be more costly because he would have to be transported back to Moore County for hearings.

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