Wake County judge lowers Raleigh woman’s bail in murder case. Here’s why.
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- Sandra Hunter, 66, is charged with murder in the death of Arthur Upchurch, 72.
- A judge gave her $50,000 bail Wednesday, citing weak evidence and a history of abuse.
- Upchurch had been convicted of assaulting Hunter on several occasions.
A Raleigh woman accused of murdering her boyfriend in February had her bail reduced to $50,000 on Wednesday after a judge found numerous issues with the case, court filings show.
Sandra Hunter, 66, was arrested March 1 and charged in the death of 72-year-old Arthur Upchurch, The News & Observer previously reported. Upchurch was found dead inside an apartment on Bassett Trail the morning of Feb. 28. Police have not released his cause of death.
Upchurch had a lengthy history of domestic violence, including previous convictions of assaulting Hunter, The N&O reported last month. He had been ordered not to contact Hunter as early as October 2023, but he pleaded guilty as recently as December to assaulting her again, court records show.
Superior Court Judge C. Winston Gilchrist approved a motion at a Wednesday hearing by Hunter’s defense attorney to modify her bail. Hunter was being held at the Wake County jail without bail, but Gilchrist ruled that she wasn’t a danger to the community for several reasons.
“The evidence indicates that the victim has repeatedly abused the defendant in the past,” Gilchrist wrote. “The evidence is less than overwhelming. It could establish lesser degrees of homicide or potentially no homicide at all.”
Hunter and Upchurch were also reportedly the only witnesses to what occurred, according to Gilchrist’s findings.
“Based on the totality of the evidence and the defendant’s record, there is no evidence that the defendant poses any danger to the community or to any other individual in the community or to any witness in the case as there apparently are no witnesses,” Gilchrist’s order states.
Gilchrist also found that Hunter had significant medical issues that would be too cumbersome for the Wake County Sheriff’s Office to handle while she is in jail.
Gilchrist set Hunter’s bail at $50,000 secured. Should she post bond, she must remain on electronic monitoring, according to court documents.
Hunter had not posted bond as of Thursday morning.
This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 12:05 PM with the headline "Wake County judge lowers Raleigh woman’s bail in murder case. Here’s why.."
