Criminal court docket busy

Published 10:15 am Sunday, August 27, 2006

By Staff
from staff reports
An attempted murder and the case of a former Escambia County High School principal will be on the criminal court docket scheduled for next month.
Jerry Smith, who resigned as ECHS principal in May 2005 after an investigation into finances at the school, has been charged with theft of property in the first degree.
Also on the docket is an attempted murder charge. Sharif Bradford of Atmore is also charged with promoting prison contraband in the first degree.
District Attorney Steve Billy said the attempted murder charge relates to a shooting outside an Atmore nightclub.
Billy said next month's circuit court criminal docket, which starts Sept. 11, is not necessarily busier than usual.
Some of the cases on the criminal docket could be settled before they go to trial, or some cases could be continued, Billy said.
In all, 109 defendants are scheduled for the September criminal term. Most involve drug charges