4-28-10 —    After approximately four hours of deliberation, a jury found Hope White

guilty of the murder of Julie Hicks Burchett and recommended a 30 year

sentence.

    The verdict came at 12:40 a.m. Saturday, April 24, capping five days of

testimony. The defendant began to cry after the verdict was read and

remained emotional throughout the sentencing phase of the trial.

    Burchett was found dead in her car on July 19, 2008. White had been

indicted for murder in August 2009, more than a year after the investigation

began.

    Commonwealth's Attorney Matthew Leveridge presented several expert

witnesses throughout much of last week.

    The trial actually began on Monday morning, when attorneys presented

opening statements. White was represented by Jim Cox and Teresa Whitaker,

with the public defender's office.

    The first witness to take the stand for the prosecution was Monticello

Police Detective Derek Lester, who found the body just after midnight on

July 19, 2008.

    Lester testified that he had been on regular patrol that evening, when

he heard the Sheriff's Department take a domestic violence call at the

Stringer Apartments, just off Highway 1275. He responded to assist with the

call and found several deputies, as well as Wayne County EMS on the scene.

Hope White and her boyfriend, Bobby Buster, were at that apartment.

    Lester said he observed White, as she talked to one of the deputies at

the scene, and said that she appeared to have blood on the front of her

shirt. He said that after White was taken into custody by a deputy on a

warrant, he left the scene.

    As he headed back toward town, Lester said he saw Burchett's car parked

at the pallet mill. He stopped to check out the car and saw someone lying

across the seat. Lester stated that at that point he thought someone had

passed out in the car.

    He said the person did not respond when he called out and did not

respond when he used his flashlight to illuminate the inside of the car. He

said he saw that the victim had several wounds and what appeared to be blood

on her shirt.

    At that point, Lester said he got on the radio and requested assistance

from other officers.

    Kentucky State Police Detective Doug Boyd was also on the stand on

Monday afternoon, and he testified regarding the incidents leading up to his

assuming the lead role in the investigation. Boyd said he arrived on the

scene at 1:05 a.m. on July 19, 2008. He said there was blood on the body and

a bloody smear on the outside of the passenger door, which later was

determined to be the victim's blood.

    He said that Burchett was lying across the front seat of the car, almost

in a fetal position with her knees turned toward the rear of the vehicle.

Her head was in the passenger seat and her feet and legs were in the

driver's seat.

    Boyd testified there was some blood found on the driver's side head rest

and a couple of drops on the console. He said a lot of blood had seeped

through the seat cover on the passenger side of the car and had collected

behind the seat.

    Boyd said evidence indicated that Burchett had not been killed inside

the car. One indicator of that was that she had blood stains on her jeans,

but there was not blood on the driver's seat where her legs were resting.

    He said the victim's left hand was on her neck, covering a large wound.

Jurors viewed several photographs taken of the car, as well as the victim

inside the car.

    Boyd testified that he learned from other officers at the scene that

they had responded to a domestic incident earlier that evening at a

residence nearby. He said he was given the names of the two people involved

in the domestic and was told that White had blood on her shirt and some type

of cut to her head.

    Boyd testified that he later went to White and Buster's apartment and

talked to them for several minutes outside. He said both White and Buster

were present for that conversation.

    The jury viewed several items of clothing that Burchett was wearing the

night she was killed, as well as the seat cover that was collected from her

car.

    Dr. Jennifer Schott testified regarding autopsy findings for the victim.

She said Burchett sustained nine stab wounds over her torso and seven

incised wounds, including the one on her neck.

    Detective Scott Trotter, with the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department,

testified regarding a search that was conducted at White's mother's house on

June 29, 2009, when new flooring was taken up from the hallway and Luminol

was used to determine if there was the presence of blood.

    Trotter said there was several places where there was a response to the

Luminol during the search. He also stated that there appeared to be stains

on the boards in the hallway and on the particle board.

    There was testimony from three witnesses, who say they were at a party

on July 18, 2008 at White's mother's home. Scotty Stanton, who said he came

to Wayne County with Adam Manning, is from Knox County. He said that he and

Manning met up with a man named Jason Miller and another man whose last name

was Frost in a convenience store in Monticello and were invited to a party.

He testified that they followed Miller and Frost to the residence on Spann

Hill.

    Stanton said when he arrived at the residence he saw two men arguing in

the front yard. When he entered the residence, he saw two women arguing, and

one of them was White.

    He said he did not see a knife of any blood, but stayed inside for only

a few seconds before he left the residence. He said he and Manning decided

to go back to Corbin and they left.

    Jason Miller took the stand on Wednesday, April 21 and remained there

for several hours. He was first questioned by Leveridge, who asked him to

relate the events of July 18, 2008.

    Miller said he was at his mother's house that morning, when he called

his friend, Seth Frost, who came and picked him up. They went to town

together and saw Burchett walking along the Spann Hill Road. Miller said her

car was parked at the pallet mill.

    Miller testified that Burchett got a call from White during the

afternoon, who asked her to bring some pills down to the lake. He said he,

Frost, and Burchett went to F & T, where they met up with White, Buster, and

Billy Burke and his wife, who were at the lake. He said they all spent some

together "talking and getting high."

    Miller stated that they were told about a party later that evening, and

he said they got their between 7 and 8 p.m. He said he saw Buster and White

at the residence and that they were arguing in a back bedroom. He also

testified that White's father, Darrell White, and her uncle, Johnny White,

were there as well.

    Miller said he was at the party for several hours and was sitting on the

couch with Burchett, when White came into the living room and asked her if

she had been having an affair with Buster. Miller testified that Burchett

began to cry and then went into the bathroom.

    Miller said that when Burchett came out of the bathroom, White walked up

to her with a knife and stabbed her. He said he saw the knife and he saw the

victim stabbed once. At that point, he said he left the party quickly.

    "I freaked out and got up and ran," stated Miller.

    Miller stated that he was afraid to tell anyone about what he had seen

and was afraid for his family's safety. Miller said he made his first

statement regarding this incident to Detective Boyd in June 2009.

    Under cross examination, Miller was questioned by Cox regarding

inconsistencies in the statements he had made to officials. He was also

asked about a trip he made about a month ago, with Leveridge and Boyd, to

Spann Hill. Miller said he was showing them the general area, where he

recalls throwing a cell phone out the window as he fled the party.

    Miller said he thought at the time that it might be Burchett's cell

phone, but after talking with Leveridge and Boyd he said he did not think it

was her phone.

    The jury then listened to two recorded statements that Miller had made

to Boyd during the investigation.

    In direct conflict with Miller's testimony was that of Frost, who took

the stand on Friday afternoon, as the defense presented its case. Frost said

that he was not with Miller that day and did not drive him to town or go to

a party with him on Spann Hill.

    He said he did not know where Tammy White lived and had never been to

her house. He also testified that he did not know Manning or Stanton, who

had previously stated they met Frost at a local convenience store and

followed him to the party.

    Frost said he did not meet with Burchett that day and said he did not

know who she was.

    The defense continued to present its case that afternoon with testimony

from Brittany White, who is the sister to the defendant. White testified

that she was at home on the night of July 18, 2008. She said there was no

party at her residence and that she had been to band camp that day. She

testified that she talked to her friend, Whitney Frost, by telephone for a

lengthy period of time and there was no one else at her house. Frost and her

grandmother both also testified regarding those events.

    White took the stand late on Friday afternoon and testified regarding

the events of July 18, 2008. White said she got up that morning at abut 9 or

10 a.m., when her mother woke her up. She had no plans for the day, but

ended up leaving the residence with her mother and children.

    White said she took Buster something to drink where he was working, and

stopped at Bluegrass Celullar at least a couple of times of that day and had

receipts that were time stamped to show that she was there.

    When Buster got off work, White said that she and the Burkes decided to

get some beer and go to the lake. They left her two children with her

father, with arrangements for them to spend the night there.

    She said they went to F & T, with the two couples traveling in separate

vehicles. White said they got there about 4:30 p.m. She testified regarding

a citation that Buster received on his ATV at 5:30 p.m. while they were at

the lake.

    She said the Burkes left the lake before she and Buster did. They did

not leave until about dusk and that they had been arguing. She said they

were not fighting about Burchett.

    White said she injured her head, somewhere near her hairline, while they

were at the lake and that she had been bleeding. She said Buster put his

shirt on her head to stop the bleeding.

    White testified that she and Buster went back to their apartment and

they were still angry and arguing. White said she was intoxicated at this

point, and stated that she did not go to a party or to her mother's house at

that time.

    Several deputies showed up at her apartment during the argument,

according to White. She said that a deputy put her in his car and arrested

her on a Clinton County warrant. She said they drove about a half a mile,

when the call came in from Lester who was at the pallet mill. White said the

deputy took her back home and dropped her off in the driveway.

    White said she left her apartment and walked to the scene, where police

had found the victim in her car. She said she and Buster stayed there until

about 2:30 or 3 a.m. and went back to their apartment.

    White said that she and Buster talked when they got back to their

apartment and she recalled an individual who had acted suspiciously around

Burchett. So she called the police station and asked to speak to an officer

so she could relay that information to them. That is when Boyd came to her

apartment, according to White's testimony.

    White related several other conversations she had with Boyd during the

investigation, including an interview at the Monticello Police Department

and at the KSP Post in London.

    White, under questioning by her attorney, denied stabbing Burchett.

    Attorneys presented closing statements on Friday evening, and jurors got

the case at 8:23 p.m.

    Formal sentencing for White has been set for May 17 in Wayne Circuit

Court.