By Casey Northcutt
Hopkinsville, KY – The defense attorney for convicted Hopkinsville Murderer Charles Bussell has made a motion for a new trial due to the prosecutor's strike of two black jurors. Attorney Keith Virgin says he filed for the trial on Monday, citing a 1986 Supreme Court decision stating that lawyers must have viable excuses for using their peremptory strikes. He says prosecutor Tim Coleman dismissed at least one of the jurors for poor reasons. Bussell, who's black, was convicted last month the 1990 murder of a white woman, Sue Spears Lail. The final jury consisted of 11 Caucasians and one African American. This was Bussell's third trial after the first two resulted in an overturned death sentence and a hung jury. Circuit Judge Andrew Self will rule on Virgin's motion September 30.