By Rupert Howell

Deputies with Panola County Circuit Clerk’s office confirmed approximately 200 jury summons have been mailed for the August 12 capital murder trial of  James D. Willie of Sardis who will possibly be facing the death penalty.

District Attorney John Champion told The Commercial Appeal that he will seek the death penalty for Willie. Prosecutors are currently awaiting Willie’s mental evaluation.

Willie is charged with the murder of Thomas K. Schlender of Raymond, Neb., who was found shot to death inside his truck on May 8, 2012, on I-55 near Pope-Courtland exit.

Willie also has been charged with murder in the May 11, 2012 shooting death of Lori Anne Carswell, 48, of Hernando. Her body was found lying near her car on the shoulder of Mississippi Highway 713 in Tunica County.

He was held in a Tunica County jail on a $1.5 million bond following his arrest, but was later found guilty of parole violation and sentenced to five years on a residential burglary charge in Panola County. He is currently serving in the South Mississippi Correctional Institution prison in Leakesville.

Schlender was traveling from his Nebraska home to Florida to pick up his grandson from college in Florida.

Willie will also be tried in Tunica County where Carswell’s murder occurred, but no trial date has been set.