By Paul Gattis
(AP)
Attorneys representing capital murder suspect Casey White, who escaped from Lauderdale County jail in April and the target of a nationwide manhunt before being captured, have asked a judge to move his trial away from Florence.
Huntsville attorney Mark McDaniel filed the motion Friday asking for a change of venue for the trial due to publicity generated by White’s escape that was assisted by corrections officer Vicki White that became a national story.
“If the Defendant were to have a trial in Lauderdale County, it would violate his rights to a fair trial by an impartial jury guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution,” the motion said.
McDaniel had previously said he intended to ask that the trial be moved away from northwest Alabama.
White, already serving a 75-year prison term, has been charged in the 2015 death of Connie Ridgeway of Rogersville in eastern Lauderdale County. Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said when White was charged in 2020, he confessed to the murder. In a motion filed Thursday, White’s lawyers asked a judge to suppress any statements their new client has made to law enforcement.
Meanwhile, Circuit Judge Benjamin Graves granted an unopposed defense motion to postpone the trial due to the fact that White changed lawyers late last month. The trial originally scheduled for June 13 has been pushed to December 12, the judge ordered.
Casey White burst into prominence when he escaped from the county jail in Florence on April 29 with Vicki White. The two were not related.
They were on the run for 11 days before Casey White was captured in Evansville, Ind. Vicki White, as police closed in, took her own life with a gunshot to the head, officials in Indiana said.
That manhunt, along with the details of the escape aided by a female jailer, attracted national attention.
“Some of the largest news networks in the world covered the story on the whereabouts of Vicky White and the Defendant along with why the Defendant was in the Lauderdale County Detention Center and ‘facts’ this Honorable Court or any juror is yet to hear regarding the Defendant’s capital murder case,” Casey White’s lawyers wrote in the change of venue motion. “CNN, Fox News, NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, and others focused reports on Florence, Alabama and the surrounding area. It was one of the most viewed stories in the country, trailing only the war in Ukraine for several days. This information has severely prejudiced the Defendant.”
The motion also pointed to attention Casey White has attracted on social media, including a Facebook group about Casey White and Vicky White that has 50,000 members.
The motion argues it would be almost impossible to empanel an objective jury in Lauderdale County.
“Lauderdale County, Alabama, has a population of approximately 92,870 residents,” the motion said. “Nearly all of them own a television, phone, computer, tablet or combination of the four. It would take a resident living in a dwelling without access to electricity or communication from the outside world for the last month to not know a significant amount of information about the Defendant, his capital murder case, and his other legal matters. Therefore, to ensure that Mr. White receives a fair trial from an impartial jury of his peers, it is imperative that this matter be transferred to another county whereas it is obvious that Lauderdale County has been overwhelmed with prejudice towards Mr. White that cannot be cured in any manner.”
