LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — A judge has approved an order for the capital murder trial of Casey Cole White to be pushed back more than six months from now, court records show.

White’s attorneys filed the motion to continue Thursday. He had been set to go to trial on June 13.

The jury trial for White’s capital murder charge is now set to begin on December 12 at 8:30 a.m. at the Lauderdale County Courthouse in Florence.

The defense is also asking that the case be tried in another county.

Shortly after the continuance was granted, the defense filed its change of venue motion.

The motion argues the massive amount of media coverage during the time White had escaped, with stories across several news stations and social media platforms containing, “significant portions of documentary and hearsay evidence relative to the defendant” – information his defense says has, “severely prejudiced the defendant.”

A status conference is scheduled for November 29 at 1:30 p.m. A deadline for motions filed or pending in the case was set for December 6 at 9 a.m., with a plea cutoff deadline set for December 8 at 1:30 p.m.

Circuit Judge Benjamin R. Graves issued the order.

The change of venue motion argues a fair trial, and an “untainted,” impartial jury would be nearly impossible to find if the case went to trial in Lauderdale County.

Attorneys for White include Mark McDaniel, Robert Tuten, Nickolas R. Heatherly, Marcus Helstowski and Nick Lough.

On Thursday, White’s defense filed several motions including one seeking to have a judge throw out his alleged confession to the 2015 murder of Connie Ridgeway – and another asking if the state plans to seek the death penalty in the case.

Authorities said White confessed to the killing and provided details in the case in June 2020, while he was an inmate in the Alabama Department of Corrections system.