Alabama jailbreak suspect Casey White gets new defense team ahead of murder trial in death of Connie Ridgeway

Casey White, the former Alabama jail escapee whom U.S. Marshals recaptured in Indiana after 11 days on the run last month, will have a new-look defense after his family retained a team of private attorneys as he awaits the start of his murder trial in the death of Connie Ridgeway.

They will also be representing him in connection with the jailbreak.

“There’s a preliminary hearing coming up on June the 20th, and that’s dealing with the newest charges,” Robert Tuten, one of White’s new attorneys, told Fox News Digital Wednesday. “We’re building his defense from the ground up, starting over and everything.”

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Tuten and a team of four other attorneys were retained by White’s family, the lawyer said. Alabama bar rules limited him from discussing the facts of the case amid pending litigation, so he said he could not go into specifics about how the new defense will differ. The group filed a notice of appearance announcing the switch least week.

White, 38, was serving a 75-year prison sentence when he was transferred from a state prison to the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence to stand trial there on unrelated murder charges in the death of Ridgeway, 58, a killing to which authorities say he confessed in 2020 before pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

“I have no idea where the family would find that kind of money,” Austin Williams, Ridgeway’s son, said Wednesday.

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Williams also said he had no idea White had been transferred to Lauderdale before the escape and is pushing for a new law that would require authorities to inform victims’ families whenever an inmate is moved to a new facility. 

While in Lauderdale, and with the help of the jail’s former assistant director of corrections, Vicky White, Casey White walked out in broad daylight, got into her marked cruiser and together they escaped, surveillance video shows. The two were not related but were romantically involved, according to authorities.

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The 11-day manhunt ended in a police chase in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. After a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force pit maneuver overturned their vehicle, Vicky White shot herself in the head, according to investigators. Casey White surrendered.

He could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Ridgeway. 

White’s former attorney, Jamy Poss, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tuten had previously represented former Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely, who was on the scene during Casey White’s arrest in 2015, which led to the original 75-year sentence. The attorney said there is no connection between the cases.