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Prosecutors trying Ga. man in killing of 8 give jury brief lesson on 1887 slayings near Macon

Associated Press
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Guy Heinze Jr. listens during testimony during his trial in Glynn County Superior Court in Brunswick, Ga. on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Heinze Jr. is charged with killing his father and seven other family members who shared a cramped mobile home just outside Brunswick. Heinze Jr. faces the death penalty if he's convicted of murder in the Aug. 29, 2009, slayings. (AP Photo/The Brunswick News, Michael Hall, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Glynn County Police Lt. Keith Stalvey shows the jury a shotgun taken from the trunk of the car Guy Heinze Jr. was driving when he returned home Aug. 29, 2009 to find his father and seven others dead in the trailer where lived with them, during Heinze's trial onWednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 in Brunswick, Ga. Guy Heinze Jr. is charged with killing his father and seven other family members who shared a cramped mobile home just outside Brunswick. Heinze Jr. faces the death penalty if he's convicted of murder in the Aug. 29, 2009, slayings. (AP Photo/The Brunswick News, Michael Hall, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Defense attorney Newell Hamilton, with the Office of the Georgia Capital Defender, walks to the podium in Glynn County Superior Court during the trail of Guy Heinze Jr. in Brunswick, Ga. on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Heinze Jr. is charged with killing his father and seven other family members who shared a cramped mobile home just outside Brunswick. Heinze Jr. faces the death penalty if he's convicted of murder in the Aug. 29, 2009, slayings. (AP Photo/The Brunswick News, Michael Hall, Pool) (The Associated Press)

The trial of a Georgia man charged with clubbing his father and seven extended family members to death inside a mobile home has dredged up comparisons to another mass killing in the state's distant past.

Jurors hearing the case against 26-year-old Guy Heinze Jr. will have to consider whether he single-handedly could have slain all eight victims. Prosecutors last week slipped in a short reference to a 126-year-old case with eerie similarities.

Thomas G. Woolfolk (WHUL-fork) was convicted and hanged after being accused of killing nine family members, including his father and stepmother, with an ax at their farmhouse near Macon on Aug. 6, 1887.

There are key differences between the two cases. Heinze is standing trial for eight killings, while Woolfolk was tried only for killing his father.