A judge has agreed to hear oral arguments on the effort.
The hearing will also include the topic of a defense request to move the trial away from Florence due to publicity generated by the nationwide manhunt for White after his escape.Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Benjamin Graves set the hearing for Dec. 2 – just 10 days before the trial is set to begin on Dec. 12. The trial was previously scheduled to begin June 13 but was pushed to December after White hired a new team of lawyers last month.
The arrest came, Connolly said at the time, after an investigator with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office received a letter in June 2020 from White. The arrest came after the case was presented to a grand jury. White indicated he was paid to kill Ridgeway. White’s new lawyers, led by Huntsville attorney Mark McDaniel, is seeking to suppress that confession.