Many crime cases on tap in 2010

The man charged with killing Auburn University freshman Lauren Burk is expected to go to trial this year.

The capital murder trial for Courtney L. Lockhart, 25, of Smiths Station, is scheduled to start March 29 in Lee County Circuit Court, more than two years after the young co-ed was killed.

However, Lockhart’s defense attorneys want the case to be heard in another county. Jeremy Armstrong and Joel Collins have claimed that the extensive local and national media coverage generated by the case tainted the local jury pool. They had the case file sealed and a gag order instituted to curb additional pre-trial publicity.

Lee County Circuit Court Judge Jacob A. Walker III scheduled a hearing Feb. 9 and 10 to discuss motions for a change of venue, as well as suppression of evidence.

Burk, an 18-year-old from Marietta, Ga., was found lying in the roadway on North College Street between Farmville Baptist Church and U.S. Highway 280 shortly after 9 p.m. March 4, 2008. She was transported to East Alabama Medical Center, where she later died as a result of a single gunshot wound. Her car, a 2001 black Honda Civic, was found engulfed in flames about 9:30 p.m. in the Hinton Field parking lot on campus.

Lockhart allegedly confessed to the crimes a few days later when the Phenix City police caught him during a traffic stop. A Lee County jury indicted him a few months later for capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during an attempted rape and capital murder during a robbery. Lockhart remains in the Lee County Detention Facility as Alabama does not allow bond in capital murder cases.

Other notable cases coming in 2010:

- The capital murder trial for Gregory Lance Henderson, 31, of Columbus, Ga., also is scheduled to begin March 29 in Lee County Circuit Court, according to court documents. However, that could change after an arraignment hearing scheduled for Feb. 4. Henderson was indicted last month for causing the death of Lee County Sheriff’s deputy James Anderson, 39, while in the line of duty. Henderson also faces a drug possession charge from the September incident.

- The sentencing for Barry Lee Jones, 18, of Opelika will be set Jan. 8. A Lee County jury found Jones guilty in November for the death of his 7-month-old son, Kevin Christopher, and recommended the court sentence him to life in prison. Walker could follow the jury’s recommendation or sentence the young man to death by lethal injection.

- Carol Moore, Jones’ wife and Kevin’s mother, could have her own trial this month. The 25-year-old faces child abuse charges.

- Efernia Kylee McClendon, 19, of Opelika is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 25. She faces a manslaughter charge for the death of a newborn baby girl found Feb. 4, 2008 in a drainage ditch at the Tree Tops Apartments on Birmingham Highway in Opelika.

- Noah White, the man accused of shooting a Chambers County deputy in September 2008, is scheduled to stand trial Feb. 22 at the county courthouse in LaFayette. White faces seven counts of attempted murder and one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied building after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement that responded to a residence on a domestic violence call. Deputy Shannon Rollins and White were both shot during the altercation.

- Roy Johnson, the former chancellor of the state two-year college system, is scheduled to be sentenced at the federal courthouse in Birmingham Feb. 24. Johnson, who served as president of Southern Union State Community College before serving as system chancellor, agreed in March 2008 to plead guilty to 15 federal charges of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering and witness tampering.