The first of three murder trials scheduled for the July term of Oktibbeha County Circuit Court won”t take place.
The trial of Steven Love, 28, of Maben, who is charged with the 2008 beating death of 68-year-old William C. Brown, was scheduled to take place today but will be continued at a later date due to Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Clemons working cases in Clay County this week.
A new date hasn”t been determined, though Clemons anticipates the trial continuing in the October term.
A scheduling conflict is essentially the reason why Love”s trial won”t happen today, but District Attorney Forrest Allgood said it probably wasn”t going to get tried this term anyway for “various reasons.”
Clemons declined to comment specifically on the reasons to continue the trial other than “there are still some things we need to work on.”
Love”s trial was slated for April, but was continued then because he switched representation from Pearson Liddell Jr. to Bruce Brown.
Verina Childs, 38, of 3875 Jeff Peay Road, is suspected of killing her husband, Douglas Childs, while hunting in November 2009. Her trial, which was continued in April, is slated for Aug. 1 and will be presided over by Judge Lee Howard.
Howard will also preside over the trial of Floyd Robinson, who is set for a new trial on Aug. 1 for the murder of his former girlfriend, Bridget Moore, in 2007. Following the conviction, he was sentenced to life in prison.
Robinson appealed to the Mississippi Court of Appeals, but the nine-judge panel confirmed the conviction with a 5 to 4 vote.
Robinson”s case then went before the Mississippi Supreme Court and the high court reversed the circuit court and Court of Appeals and called for a new trial.
The split-session between Oktibbeha County and Clay County will require one of three assistant district attorneys and one of the three circuit court judges to be in West Point this week. Judges Jim Kitchens and Lee Howard are presiding over cases in Oktibbeha County while Judge Lee Coleman is in Clay County.
All three judges will preside over trials in Oktibbeha County during the first week of August.
“This kind of overlap happens sometimes,” said Clemons, who is handling cases in Clay County. “Now that we have three judges, it splits the office and it”s trickier.”
Following the retirement of Assistant District Attorney Charlie Hedgepeth for personal reasons on July 1, Allgood and his assistants have split up 31 additional trials.
Even with a full staff, each assistant district attorney handles more than 300 cases a year.
“It does leave little time to prepare,” Allgood said. “The tough thing is it”s gonna be a lingering issue because I can”t hire until after the (county) elections (on Aug. 2). No one is going to come here until they know if I win or lose.”
Still, Allgood doesn”t anticipate the split-session and short-handed prosecution causing cases not to be tried.
“Things were moving pretty briskly (Monday),” Allgood said. “We had quite a few guilty pleas (Monday), and there are gonna be quite a few more (today).”
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