STARKVILLE — Two murder trials are slated for the Oktibbeha County Circuit Court’s October term.
Steven D. Love, 28, of Maben, will stand trial Wednesday for the beating death of 68-year-old William C. Brown in late 2009. Love’s trial has been continued multiple times since he was indicted in August 2010.
Judge Jim Kitchens will preside over the trial. Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Clemons will represent the state, while Bruce Brown will represent Love.
At the time of Love’s indictment, he was serving a prison term for a burglary conviction and was not eligible for bond.
William C. Brown died from blunt force trauma to the head and was found lying on the floor of his Self Creek Road home. No signs of forced entry were found inside Brown’s home. Love became a suspect in summer 2010.
Kitchens is also slated to preside over four armed robbery trials Monday.
Floyd Robinson, a Columbus man previously sentenced to life in prison for the 2005 shooting death of former girlfriend Bridget Moore, will have a new trial beginning Oct. 31. Robinson was granted a new trial by the Mississippi Supreme Court, which reversed decisions by the circuit court and Court of Appeals.
At issue was whether a videotaped interrogation of Robinson by police should have been allowed into evidence and shown to the jury during his trial.
During the interrogation, police refer to previous domestic violence allegations made against Robinson by Moore and another girlfriend, Marilyn McKinney.
The Supreme Court determined the jury was shown inadmissible evidence.
Also Monday, George Johnson, the 21-year-old Weir man charged with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of armed robbery after stabbing a pair of employees at Shipley Do-Nuts on May 31, will be arraigned.
Johnson was held by Starkville Police Department on $350,000 bond since his arrest on May 31 and was taken into Oktibbeha County Sheriff”s Office custody on Aug. 19.
Dennis Thompson, 19, the Starkville man accused in the shooting death Curtis K. Randle, 25, in May, will have his trial continued to the next term. Thompson also faces two aggravated assault charges.
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