By MONROE ROARK
Staff Writer

The first of two defendants facing a possible death penalty for a murder last spring makes his first appearance in Fayette County Superior Court next week.

A preliminary hearing for Carl Hodge is set for Monday at 9 a.m. before Judge Christopher Edwards, according to a spokesman for district attorney Bill McBroom's office. McBroom will be prosecuting the case along with assistant DA Tom Woodward.

Monday's hearing is a formality of sorts, as an official reading of the charges is required in a death penalty case.

McBroom is seeking the death penalty for Hodge and Glen Hamilton in connection with the murder of Adolf Stubbs, whose body was found in a burned sport utility vehicle in north Fayette County April 1. Stubbs had a single gunshot wound to his head.

A month-long investigation by the Fayette County Sheriff's Department and state and federal officials unearthed an alleged drug transaction gone bad, and authorities now believe all three men were initially partners whose relationship dissolved after the transaction, according to police reports.

Hodge and Hamilton were arrested May 3 after a group of people came in a van from New York to visit another suspect already in custody. Investigators covered a lot of ground on this case, from Stubbs' Brooklyn apartment to Orlando.

A total of six people were arrested in connection with the case, with one suspect fleeing to Jamaica.