Judge considering December trial for Casey White in Vicky White’s murder
No ruling has been made yet following the prosecutor’s request to hold trial for Casey White on a felony murder charge before his capital murder trial. But a judge is considering a December trial on the felony murder charge in connection with the death of Vicky White and Tuesday ordered White’s arraignment to be moved up two months.
White will now be arraigned on Oct. 11 at 9 a.m. in Florence on the felony murder charge relating to the death of Vicky White, the Lauderdale County jail officer who helped White escape in April. Vicky White, no relation to Casey White, took her own life as law enforcement closed in on the two May 9 in Indiana at the end of an 11-day manhunt.
At the arraignment, White will formally enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. Mark McDaniel, one of White’s Huntsville-based defense attorneys, has said that his client will plead not guilty.
Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connelly asked Judge Benjamin Graves to reschedule the arraignment – originally set for December – since Casey White will be in court for a hearing on a series of motions on Oct. 11.
In his order Tuesday, Graves said he had “taken under advisement” Connelly’s request to hold the felony murder trial in December rather than the capital murder trial. The capital murder trial was delayed from June to Dec. 12 after Casey White hired McDaniel.
Casey White has been indicted for felony murder in Vicky White’s death even though Vicky White took her own life. The indictment charges Casey White with first-degree escape “and in the course and furtherance of committing escape in the first degree, caused the death of Vicky White, who died from a gunshot wound to the head.”
Casey White is already serving a 75-year prison term for crimes committed in 2015. The capital murder charge stems from the brutal 2015 murder of Connie Ridgeway in Rogersville. White was charged with her death in 2020.
White is being held at Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer but his attorneys have filed a motion asking that he be transferred to Cullman County jail to prepare for the December trial. That motion will be among those argued at next week’s hearing.