Melodie Phelps, News Editor
CNHI
5-25-10 — Formal sentencing for Hope White has been delayed until August 17, after
Circuit Judge Vernon Miniard, Jr. agreed to allow DNA testing of blood found
under the fingernails of the victim, Julie Hicks Burchett. White was
convicted of murder in Burchett's death during a lengthy trial in Wayne
Circuit Court last month.
The jury recommended a 30-year sentence, and that was what many people
expected to hear Monday when White appeared in court again for formal
sentencing. But instead, Miniard granted the request made by White's
attorneys‹Jim Cox and Teresa Whitaker‹for the DNA testing.
White's attorneys are also questioning the testimony of three men who
said they were with Burchett the night she was killed. Their question is if
the blood found under the victim's fingernails belongs to a man or a woman.
Miniard ordered that DNA testing be completed within 90 days and set the
next court date in the case for August 17.
White was arrested in June 2009, nearly a year after Burchett's body was
found in her vehicle parked at the old pallet mill on Beech Valley Road. The
victim had been stabbed numerous times and her throat had been cut,
according to testimony from the trial.