Published: January 14, 2009 09:32 am      

McBride to stand trial in February

The Mississippi Department of Corrections inmate accused of murdering local catfish farmer Charles Green in 2002 will go to trial on Monday, Feb. 9 at the Webster County Courthouse in Walthall.

McBride, who is serving an 18-year manslaughter sentence since 2004, was charged in the murder of Charles Green on June 5 at the Kemper County Correctional Facility. Green was killed in 2002.

Strong physical evidence led the Attala County Sheriff’s Department to charge him with the murder.

In October, Circuit Court Judge C.E. Morgan III ruled during the initial change of venue hearing that the trial would remain in Attala County but later reconsidered and moved the trial.

Morgan cited the testimony of Sunflower manager Jerry Mayo and former Kosciusko High School Principal Charles Hull as the reason for the change.

Morgan said the testimony of Hull and Mayo makes it a close call, when it comes to changing the location of the trial.

Both Mayo and Hull testified that McBride couldn’t receive a fair trial.

In September, McBride along with fellow inmate, Michael D. Harmon escaped the Attala County Jail by pulling up the gate in the exercise yard.

They were quickly detained by the ACSD and the Kosciusko Police Department within 17 minutes.