Owen County jurors find Jay White guilty of murder and obstruction of justice
SPENCER — Jurors found 39-year-old Jay White guilty of murder and obstruction of justice after deliberating about two hours Wednesday.
The guilty verdicts came around 1 p.m. on the seventh day of a trial in Owen Circuit Court. Jurors listened to lawyers' closing statements Wednesday morning.
White is to be sentenced May 23 by Monroe Circuit Judge Darcie Fawcett, who oversaw the trial. The murder happened the night of Sept. 14, 2021.
Owen County Prosecutor Benjamin Kim said the evidence in his murder case against White proved the Spencer man shot 26-year-old Elizabeth "Bizzy" Stevens in the head with his AR-15 rifle.
Defense lawyer Megan Schueler said evidence she presented from experts made that unlikely. She told jurors that given where White was seated inside the pickup, where Stevens was killed and the bullet's trajectory, he could not have fired the fatal shot.
The defense contended Stevens died by suicide or by accidentally shooting herself.
This story will be updated.
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Jurors find Jay White guilty of murder, obstruction of justice
