Judge sets next court date for Lockhart

The next time Courtney L. Lockhart is scheduled to appear in Lee County Circuit Court is September.

According to court documents filed Monday, Judge Jacob A. Walker III set a status conference for 2 p.m. Sept. 3 to update the court on the proceedings of the capital murder case against the 23-year-old Smiths Station man.

Lockhart faces three capital murder charges in connection with the March 4 death of Auburn University freshman Lauren Burk. He also faces a unrelated robbery charge in connection to a robbery reported at the Short Stop Convenience Store in Smiths Station.

A mental evaluation ordered for Lockhart last week may be completed by the conference; however, the results will be sealed by the court, according to court documents.

Lockhart’s attorneys entered not guilty pleas during his arraignment June 4, but requested permission from Walker to amend the pleas later, depending on the results of mental evaluations.

Walker also signed an order from Chief Assistant District Attorney David W. Glanzer last week for saliva samples to be taken from Lockhart. The samples will be delivered to a detective with the Auburn Police Division for transport to the state’s Department of Forensic Sciences for analysis, according to court

documents. At Lockhart’s arraignment, prosecution and defense attorneys agreed to draft an order for Walker about pre-trial publicity. According to a court document filed Monday, Walker should receive it within the next seven to 10 days.

A gag order has been in place since April, when the defense made the request. The order prevents anyone involved in the case from talking publicly about it.