Judge denies motion to toss murder case

An Albemarle County man accused of killing a convenience store owner 21 years ago is scheduled to stand trial next week.

Albemarle Circuit Judge Cheryl Higgins denied a motion Wednesday that requested the indictments against Alvin Lee “Butch” Morris be dismissed due to a pre-trial indictment delay.

Morris, 68, was charged in May 2008 with first-degree murder and other charges in connection with the June 20, 1988, death of Roger L. Shifflett.

An employee of the now-defunct Southwind Gas and Grocery store on Route 20 found Shifflett’s body in the store that morning. Morris later married Shifflett’s widow and helped raise some of Shifflett’s children.

Noting other cases, Higgins ruled Wednesday that she couldn’t find a tactical delay in Morris’ arrest. Higgins recalled testimony from a hearing last month, during which police officers who worked the case in the last 20 years said that they had been doing everything possible to find a suspect.

In her ruling, Higgins noted the delay between 1994, when DNA testing sensitive enough to find material on cigarette butts from the scene was available, and 2006, when Albemarle police Detective Phil Giles was assigned to the case.

Lunsford has said DNA on those butts linked Morris to the crime scene.

Defense attorney Dana Slater has said that she thinks the 20-year delay benefits the prosecution, in part because some of the witnesses have died in the last two decades.

Denise Lunsford, the commonwealth’s attorney, has said there isn’t any evidence that she or any previous prosecutor delayed the charges against Morris.

According to court records, Morris’ five-day trial still is scheduled to start on Monday in Albemarle Circuit Court.