JEFFERSON — Attorneys for a man charged with killing a Pendergrass police officer in December want to restrict the use of the word “murder” during an upcoming trial.
“The connotation of the word ‘murder’ takes on an inflammatory appeal such that the passion of the average person is aroused to the point of prejudice,” attorneys S. Boyd Young and Bruce Harvey wrote in a motion to restrict the word.
The motion, filed late Monday afternoon, was one of 77 motions defense attorneys for Richard Alexander Whitaker filed in Jackson County Superior Court. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Whitaker.
Whitaker, 27, is facing 17 criminal charges — including murder — in the Dec. 29 shooting death of Pendergrass police Officer Chris Ruse. Ruse was shot and killed after a pursuit along U.S. Highway 129 that began in Pendergrass and ended in the nearby town of Talmo, according to authorities.
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