An Alabama judge on Tuesday formally set new dates for Casey White, the capital murder suspect who escaped jail last year in Florence with the aid of a jail officer.
Judge Benjamin Graves said at a hearing last week that new dates would be set in June and August and he issued orders Tuesday on the exact dates. White’s trial for felony murder has been set for June 12. The capital murder trial will be two months later on August 14.
White has been charged with felony murder in the death of Vicki White, the jail officer who Sheriff Rick Singleton has said facilitated White’s escape in April 2022 and resulted in an 11-day manhunt before Casey White was captured in Indiana. Vicki White – no relation to Casey White – took her own life with a gunshot to the head as police were closing in in Indiana. Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said Casey White was charged with felony murder because Vicki White’s death occurred during the commission of a felony – escaping from jail.
Connolly charged Casey White with capital murder in 2020 for the 2015 slaying of Connie Ridgeway in Rogersville. When he escaped from jail, White was being held for the trial that was then just weeks away. That trial was delayed in the aftermath of the escape and White retaining a new team of attorneys.
White is currently serving a 75-year sentence for convictions stemming from an array of 2015 charges, including attempted murder. White is in prison at Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer.
White’s team of attorneys had asked for the felony murder trial to be delayed until after the capital murder case, for which the lawyers said they had been preparing. Instead, the judge pushed the April trial date to June 12 – which most recently was the date for the capital murder trial. And judge delayed the capital murder trial until August.
Tell us your thoughts...