Tagged: Angola 5

The new attorneys for the only Angola inmate still facing trial in the 1999 beating and stabbing death of a prison security officer told a state judge they probably will file a motion to postpone their client's trial.

The Advocate reports the trial for Barry Edge, who already is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, is scheduled to begin Jan. 17.

Defense attorney Steve Lemoine told retired Orleans Parish Judge Jerome M. Winsberg Friday that he sees problems in getting the case together.

Attorneys for Angola 5 defendant David Mathis have persuaded a judge to allow them to use a jailhouse confession they say would show jurors their client had no intent to kill a prison security officer in 1999.

Mathis faces a first-degree murder trial in the stabbing and beating death of Capt. David C. Knapps.

The Advocate reports jury selection is set to begin Sept. 24 in Covington, where juries were chosen last year for three of Mathis' codefendants. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.