Trial Set in '96 Slaying at Health Site
BY Bill Braun World Staff Writer
Apr 18, 1998
9/03/08 at 6:10 AM
In a case that has taken more
than two years to move through
the court system, a judge on
Friday scheduled a June 1 trial
for Steven Antonio White in the
slaying of Michelle Hendrix outside a west Tulsa health clinic.
Tulsa District Judge Jesse
Harris said the case of White --
charged with first-degree murder and two counts of shooting
with intent to kill -- will take
priority over other cases on his
June 1 trial docket.
Hendrix, 30, of Sapulpa, was
shot in the chest as she walked
to her car from the John Tomblin Memorial Health Center,
2828 W. 51st St., on Feb. 29,
1996. She was carrying her 5-
month-old daughter and holding
the hand of her 2-year-old
daughter when she was con
fronted outside the center by a
purse-snatcher, police said.
Her children were not struck
by gunshots, police said.
White and his co-defendant on
the murder count, Marcus Terrell Currie, both now 19 years
old, have been in custody since
March 1996. White, branded by
prosecutors as the triggerman,
will be tried alone and faces a
potential death penalty.
Jamie Nicole Chambers, who
said she drove White and Currie
from the shooting scene, is free
on bail. Chambers -- now 20
years old but 17 on the date of
the slaying -- has filed an appeal with the Oklahoma Court
of Criminal Appeals challenging
decisions by Tulsa judges that
she should be prosecuted as an
adult.
According to court documents
and statements in court by lawyers Friday, bullet projectiles
identified as evidence in the
case have been "misplaced" in
the Tulsa Police Department
property room.
White's attorney, Stan Monroe,
has indicated that he seeks to
send those items to a Texas laboratory for an "independent ballistics examination" that Monroe
contends will "significantly impact" upon White's theory of defense.
Prosecutor John Priddy told
Judge Harris that the property
room staff have been searching
diligently for two small envelopes that contain what Monroe
categorized as "missing bullets."
Harris set a final pre-trial
hearing for May 15 for exchange of anticipated evidence.
The judge said that if the misplaced items have not been located, a hearing on that issue
will be conducted then.
White, who is from Tulsa, is
charged alone with two counts
of shooting at clinic workers.
