Joey Rushing v. Robert Tuten Redux: A New Trial for Christie Scott?

Is a new trial in the future for convicted child murderer Christie Scott? If so, we can certainly expect defense attorney Robert Barry Tuten of Huntsville to request a change of venue--and in all probability obtain one this go round. Tuten, a slightly portly man with a greying beard, hardly cuts an imposing figure...until he speaks. Tuten is quite easily the savviest attorney Joey Rushing has faced during his stint as Franklin County District Attorney, yet Rushing won the case due to overwhelming circumstantial evidence that Scott deliberately killed her older child for the insurance money. Convicted of the crime, Scott has already been transferred to death row in Wetumpka's Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. Joey Rushing can now breathe easier, or can he?

From an exclusive report by Huntsville's WHNT 19:

On July 23, after Christie Scott's conviction, the state filed a motion to be allowed to enter the burned home on Signore Drive in Russellville to collect evidence, including electrical boxes and outlets and a television console from Mason's bedroom.

The family feels the action shows the state doesn't have a case and is trying to rebuild one. However, Rushing says his office is only being thorough in the event another trial is necessary.

Obviously Rushing believes a new trial is a distinct possibility. Such requests by defense attorneys are always perfunctory, but in Scott's case, Tuten may have the appeals court on his side. During the trial it was revealed the prosecution had failed to present the defense with the electrician's report on the wiring in Mason Scott's bedroom, instead sending only the electrician's invoice--"shoddy work" according to Tuten.

More importantly, the state lost two of the electrical outlets that were removed from the victim's room. Rushing could offer no plausible explanation for their disappearance, but maintained that over two thousand photographs of the charred boxes were enough to prove the state's case.

Local legal eagles don't expect a ruling from the appeals court for at least six months. We have to wonder just how much more of the evidence Franklin County authorities can lose during that time.


What's up with this: Christie Scott has made the People You'll See in Hell website. With so much knowledge of the future, you'd think they would be offering stock market tips instead.

Shoalanda