A Marlinton-area man accused of fatally shooting his brother last week was bound over the Pocahontas County Grand Jury Tuesday morning after a preliminary hearing in Magistrate Kathy Beverageﾒs court.

John Baptist Boggs, 61, is charged with first degree murder.

Two witnesses said Boggs and his brother, Danny, had a history of disagreements, some of them violent.

One of those witnesses, Gloria Boggs Thompson, said she believed that Danny Boggs was often the instigator. Thompson said she was on the telephone with John Boggs when she heard Danny Boggs scream a profanity before she heard a gun shot. John Boggs spoke to her briefly and then she called 9-1-1, she said.

Thompson said she had been called to the residence where her brothers lived about four times in the last six months to mediate arguments.

The other witness, Danny Boggsﾒ girlfriend, Jessica Wilfong, said she was in the house when the shooting occurred. John Boggs had returned from the bedroom where the gun was kept minutes before Danny Boggs exited the same room, she testified. She said Danny Boggs approached John Boggs, who was seated on the couch when the gun was fired.

Wilfong said she later called 9-1-1 from the residence, but then left when a neighbor arrived.

Major David Walton said when he arrived at the scene, he found Danny Boggsﾒ body with a ﾓmassive woundﾔ in the chest area. John Boggs was seated on a couch in the living room with a 16-gauge single shot shotgun covered in a blanket behind him, Walton testified.

Boggsﾒ attorney, Josh Edwards argued that the prosecution had problems proving premeditation, saying the evidence tended to show that John Boggs acted in self-defense.

Prosecuting Attorney Donna Price argued that John Boggs' actions showed a plan.

ﾓThere is no indication today that there was a lawful reason for this shooting,ﾔ Price said.

Edwards said he would file a motion for a bond hearing in circuit court.

The grand jury convenes April 2.