Melodie Phelps, Editor
CNHI
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.