Lowndes Circuit Court Judge Lee Coleman Tuesday granted a continuance in the murder trial of James Newell of Vernon, Ala..
The trial was continued until the August term of court. Newell’s attorney, William Starks, requested the continuance after a witness for the defense could not be located.
Newell was convicted of manslaughter in 2009 for the shooting death of then 31-year-old Adrian Boyette of Sulligent, Ala. at the Slab House bar in Caledonia. Although he lived in Vernon, Newell worked in Lowndes County.
He was charged with murder in the case, but the jury convicted him of manslaughter.
The Mississippi Supreme Court ordered a retrial in the case in 2010.
“We were hoping to begin the trial this week, but (Coleman), for whatever reason, decided to continue it,” District Attorney Forrest Allgood said Tuesday. “So, we are still in a loop of waiting.”
The Supreme Court ordered the retrial after ruling trial Judge Jim Kitchens erred in letting the jury consider Newell’s claim he acted out of fear Boyette would hurt him.
In 2010, Kitchens said the case involved an interpretation of the “Castle Doctrine,” which gives Mississippians a stronger legal right to defend themselves with deadly force in their homes, cars and workplaces, without first retreating.
In another matter, five men charged with a Sept. 2011 armed robbery and burglary of a dwelling also had their trials postponed. Tevin Oglen, Michael Bluitt, Cory Lathan, Michael “Little Mike” Satterfield and Jeremy Billups now are scheduled for trials in August. A sixth man, Demonta Gardner, was charged with armed robbery and burglary of an occupied dwelling and was sentenced to 20 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections Friday, after being convicted on the burglary charge.
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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