Willie retrial set for January

By Rupert Howell
The expected October 2 retrial of James Willie of Panola County, charged with capital murder in the death of Thomas Schlender of Nebraska, has been postponed until January after Willie’s defense lawyer recently became ill.
Batesville Attorney David Walker is representing Willie who was found guilty in 2014 in the murder of Schlender who was found on Interstate 55 near Courtland in May of 2012.
A split decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and remanded back to Circuit Court the 2014 murder conviction stating the Circuit Judge erred when responding to jurors’ questions.
Schlender, 74, was killed while traveling from his Nebraska home on I-55 near Courtland to pick up his grandson in Bible college in Florida in May of 2012.
Willie was soon after connected with the murder of Lori Ann Carswell in Tunica County.
Evidence obtained during that investigation tied together the case for prosecutors to pursue a conviction for Schlender’s murder in Panola County where he originally received the guilty verdict and a life sentence.
He was also found guilty of the murder of Carswell in Tunica County last September and is currently serving a life sentence for that conviction which is still under appeal.