Motion filed to dismiss murder charges against Leilani Simon

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — A day before accused murderer Leilani Simon is set to make her first actual appearance in a Chatham County courtroom, reporters have learned attorneys in the case are asking the judge to throw out the three murder charges against her.

It was known as a “special demurrer,” Leilani Simon’s attorneys claim the Chatham County District Attorney’s Office didn’t provide enough detail to support the charges against Simon.

Defense attorneys called the charges “imperfect in form,” adding the counts “failed to allege any manner of death, any manner in which any cruel and excessive physical pain was inflicted, or the nature of any object or weapon which resulted in any serious injury to the victim.”

A special demurrer, according to The Investigative Unit Legal Analyst Devin Rafus, is filed by defense attorneys to clarify and/or ask for more details about the charges against a client.

The motion filed by Leilani Simon’s public defender asked the judge to dismiss the two felonies and one malice murder charge against the 23-year-old mother.

In a separate motion filed in the case today, Simon’s attorneys are also asking for counts 10,12,14 and 17 in the indictment to also be dismissed.

Those charges accuse Simon of lying to investigators during police interviews.

The WSAV Investigative Unit has learned that Leilani Simon is expected to be in the courtroom Thursday morning for a bond hearing and then her arraignment.

Judge Tammy Stokes has signed a court order allowing Simon to wear “civilian clothes” and not a jail jumpsuit.

Leilani Simon is accused of beating her 20-month-old son, then throwing his body in a dumper at a mobile home park just miles from her home.

Federal agents from across the country helped Chatham County Police investigators search a WasteManagement landfill for Quinton Simon’s remains.

Searcher in November found “remains” that were later confirmed to be the missing little boy in that dump. Leilani Simon named the one and only suspect in the case, was arrested, then indicted on 19 counts in December.