Toy Airplane Responsible for Fatal Fire?

The toy airplane is made of Styrofoam and hardly seems worth the $40.00 retail price at which it sold in 2006. Now Robert Tuten is asking the courts to consider this recalled toy may be the cause of the August 16, 2008, fire that claimed the life of Mason Scott.

Today Franklin County Circuit Judge Terry Dempsey refused to order a new trial for Mason's mother Christie Bray Scott, recently sentenced to death for the murder of the six year-old. Tuten and his associate Nick Heatherly only recently added the information concerning the recalled toy to their appeal of Scott's conviction. What are the chances that the Spin Master toy actually did ignite bedding in the room Mason shared with his younger brother Noah Riley?

According to experts, the chance that the Air Hogs RC Skywinder plane caused the fatal fire is infinitesimal. The source of the recall for the Toys-R-Us plane was the battery powered remote controller. No fires have ever been attributed to the device, but the small controller was found to emit heat in sufficient amounts to produce first degree burns on the hands of youngsters who operated the toy.

Further, only 7,500 of the planes produced by the Canadian toy company were involved in the recall. Since the toy in question was consumed in the fire, there can be no way to ascertain if Mason's plane came from defective stock.

Now, Christie Bray Scott has returned to her death row cell at the Julia Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka where she awaits her next appeal, an appeal that will in all probability not be heard for six months or even a year. In the interim, her legal bills are mounting and her husband and son have begun a new life in another town. How can anyone doubt that life under such circumstances is a more effective punishment than a swift injection given under heavy sedation?


What's up with this: The city of Tuscumbia is considering new uses for its former downtown post office. No mention has been made of its historic mural from the Roosevelt Works Projects Administration era. Hopefully Tuscumbia town fathers are aware of the treasure and are prepared to save the art at all costs.

Shoalanda

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

Should Christie Bray Scott Die?

Joey Rushing says convicted murderess Christie Michelle Bray Scott should die. Joey Rushing says a lot of things.

The Franklin County District Attorney is quoted in Thursday's TimesDaily as stating:

There's nothing worse than a mother murdering a child for insurance and because they didn't want him.

We're not sure to whom the word "they" refers. Observers said Christie couldn't handle the child. Friends said Jeremy was more interested in work and possessions than he was his own son. William Markam, the man who admitted on tape to being Christie's emotional lover said he didn't care for the child, a child he thought should have been "whooped" more.

Surely, these others in Mason Scott's life deserve some of the blame for his death. No, they didn't murder him, but they apparently made no attempt to intervene in what was obviously a pathological situation, a textbook dysfunctional family.

This morning Joey Rushing will request that Judge Terry Dempsey sentence Christie Scott to death by lethal injection, an Old Testament eye for a eye. Surely spending the rest of her natural life in the hell hole that is Tutwiler Prison would be enough punishment for this sick, sick woman.

Then again, let's not forget defense attorney Robert B. Tuten says it's not over yet...


What's up with this: It was the observation of several in the Franklin County courtroom that Joey Rushing should ditch his pink candy-striped English tie and take some lessons from the very GQ Doug Evans.

Det. Scotty Lowery Fails to Heed His Own Admonition

Russellville detective Scotty Lowery has recently made the news with his testimony in the Christie Bray Scott murder trial, during which defense attorney Robert Tuten implied Lowery was guilty of perjury concerning his role in the investigation. Lowery, pictured at right, is no stranger to TimesDaily news reports where he is frequently quoted concerning Russellville law and order.

In a TimesDaily article from October 2007, Det. Lowery made the following pronouncement:

Lowery said the Web sites are good ways to find background on suspects or on potential victims.

"Some people will put their entire life story on their profiles, so it's there to check," he said.

This certainly sounds like good advice; too bad Det. Lowery chose not to apply it to his own social networking site. Scotty Lowery's profile may be found on PoliceLink where he enumerates his must-have gear. Among these necessary items are a Glock, Taser, Oakley sunglasses, and Bud LIght in an aluminum bottle.

Aluminum bottle? Well, we certainly wouldn't want Det. Lowery to damage his unmarked Crown Victoria with broken glass, now would we?


What's up with this: Sources say Christie Bray Scott has already initiated a five million dollar lawsuit against the city of Russellville. Considering the town's track record in the case so far, she just might win.

Exclusive Interview with Cousin of Murder Victim Mason Scott

We recently sat down with Laura Nelson*, a Scott family cousin, and asked her opinion on the circumstances surrounding the death of six year-old Mason Scott and the subsequent arrest of his mother Christie Bray Scott.

SS: I understand you're a cousin to Christie Bray Scott?

LN: No, actually I'm a cousin to Jeremy and Patrick's mother.

SS. Patrick was Jeremy's older brother? How did he die?

LN: It happened about nine or ten years ago. He had just gotten into a truck with some boys just north of Russellville when the vehicle flipped and ejected Patrick. I think he was killed instantly. It was sad since I was always much closer to Patrick than Jeremy. Jeremy was always the remote one. He never seemed to change facial expressions, even before Patrick and Mason's death. Now I never see him smile.

SS: Do you think he may have Asperger's or something similar? I know it can be hereditary.

LN: I don't know. I've never really thought about it, but he's completely different from the rest of his family.

SS: How did Jeremy and Michelle meet? I've heard they were high school sweethearts, but I know Jeremy is from Russellville and Christie is from Haleyville.

LN: I really don't know about that either. Jeremy's parents, Nell and Dale, live in the Crooked Oak community. Nell teaches handicapped children at Phil Campbell, and Dale was a truck driver until about a year ago when he retired in bad health. I understand the Bray family has quite a bit more money than Jeremy's, so I'm not sure how they got together.

SS: Christie is an only child?

LN: Oh, no. She has a sister and a brother and a little sister that died when a car rolled over her. Someone, don't know who, left the car in gear and the child was killed.

SS: Do you think her sister's death affected Christie? I mean in a way that could have altered her perception of reality?

LN: I don't know about that, but she's never seemed just right to me. She's always been distant and like she was in her own little world.

SS: Where is Jeremy living now?

LN: Sometimes he and Noah Riley (his younger son) live with Nell and Dale; other times they live with the Brays. It seems he aligned himself with the Bray family. I've heard Don has had a stroke since all this started and he's determined to keep Noah Riley close. They bought houses in Hartselle and plan on moving there when this is all finished.

SS: Two houses?

LN: Yes, one for the Bray family and one for Jeremy and his family, whatever that turns out to be.

SS: Have you been to visit Christie?

LN: I haven't, but Jeremy and his father-in-law Don Bray take all the girls food. They have to do it that way. They can't take food just to Christie without taking it to the other female inmates as well. When Christie's grandmother died a little while ago, the Woodmen of the World took trays of food to the jail for Christie and the others after the funeral. I assume that's how she's kept her weight up. I know jail food is terrible.

SS: I understand you've been at the trial as much as possible. Do you have any opinions or other info you could share with us?

LN: Well, I think she may get off. They're not paying Tuten (Christie's defense attorney) $300,000.00 for nothing.

SS: You know for a fact that 300K is his fee?

LN: Not for a fact. It's just everyone has talked about how much money Don and Kathy are having to pay out to keep Christie out of prison. So, yes, I can see her walking.

SS: Will you be testifying?

LN: No, I couldn't be talking with you if I were to testify. Some of the other cousins are. Maybe that's why Jeremy doesn't act the same around any of us anymore. There were blisters on the bottom of Noah Riley's feet after the fire. Christie said they were from walking on gravel, but the ones in my family that saw them say they were definitely burn blisters. I don't think anyone had a doctor look at them, but I'm not sure.

SS: You say she might get off. Do you think she did it?

LN: Oh, yes. She's as guilty as hell.

* Name has been changed to ensure privacy (Photo by Matt McKean)


Tomorrow: Florence's Brad Holmes announces his candidacy for District I state representative.

Christie Bray Scott - Murderer or Misjudged? - Part III

As Christie Scott turned herself in, Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing and Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett held the obligatory news conference and photo op. The bearded Rushing reiterated the basic facts of the indictment--three alternative accounts of capital murder, after which the often beleaguered Hargett mumbled over the sadness of it all, failing to remember if Mason was in kindergarten or first grade.

In the nearby courtroom, Circuit Court Judge Terry Dempsey refused bond in the case, even though both Scott's father and husband, with whom she was now ostensibly reconciled, testified that the former Alfa representative was no flight risk. Adorned in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, Scott was returned to the Franklin County Jail where she has remained.

Don Bray, a successful Woodmen of the World insurance agent in Winston County and self-proclaimed world's greatest chef, arranged for Huntsville defense attorney Robert Barry Tuten to represent his daughter. Tuten, a summa cum laude graduate of Jones School of Law, specializes in capital murder cases and has in the past represented such defendants as Natashay Ward, the Huntsville woman accused of starving her three children to death, as well as Andrew Pakhomov, the UAH physics professor tried for the murder of his wife.

Tuten also asked for a change of venue, another request denied by Judge Dempsey. Dempsey has stated the jury pool for Scott's trial will be increased by 300, bringing the total to 500 individuals in hopes of selecting a fair and open-minded jury. Tuten announced last week that the jury selection process, which begins today, may take as long as five days. He also refused to rule out a second request for a change in venue if he is unhappy with the final selection.

Franklin County is no stranger to murder cases in which a young child was the victim; however, this is the perhaps the first case involving someone of Christie Michelle Bray Scott's socio-economic standing in the community. Her family's money and position have bought her the best defense attorney; it remains to be seen if such factors will influence jurors from provincial Franklin County after they see the photos of Mason's charred body.

Photo of Franklin County Courthouse courtesy of Capitol Shots

A member of V.O.C.A.L. will be in the courtroom and provide us with periodic updates in this case.