The Mississippi Court of Appeals will convene on the campus of Mississippi Valley State University next Tuesday to allow Valley students to observe the workings of the court up close.
The three-judge appeals panel will hear, starting at 1 p.m., oral arguments in a criminal case in the W.A. Butts Social Science Building’s auditorium on the Itta Bena campus.
The judges will consider an appeal by Charles “Louie” Kuebler, a Jackson man convicted of murder in the June 2010 slaying of his girlfriend, Tamra Stuckey. She was killed by a gunshot wound to the head in Kuebler’s apartment. Kuebler was convicted by a Hinds County jury in December 2011 and was sentenced to life in prison.
The special session on Valley’s campus is part of the “Court on the Road” program, a periodic outreach effort by the Court of Appeals to allow Mississippi college students and members of the general public to learn more about the court system.
Anyone interested in attending the oral arguments Tuesday at MVSU is asked to be seated in the auditorium no later than 12:45 p.m. Oral arguments in the case are expected to last about an hour, with 30 minutes allocated to both sides in the appeal.
Kuebler is represented by attorneys David P. Voisin of Jackson and Edward Blackmon Jr. of Canton. The state’s case will be presented by Special Assistant Attorney General Melanie Thomas.
In Kuebler’s petition to the appeals court, his attorneys argue that alleged issues during the jury trial — including delays in handing over the results of gunpowder residue tests and the trial judge’s decision to allow certain testimony and evidence — violated Kuebler’s right to a fair trial, claims that the Attorney General’s Office has denied in a brief to the court.
The Court of Appeals, which normally meets in Jackson, has also scheduled oral arguments in two other cases for April 21 at the University of Mississippi’s Robert C. Khayat Law Center in Oxford. Judges will hear arguments in a civil case at 1:30 p.m. and a criminal case at 3 p.m.
•Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
