Teacher pleads in child enticing

A former Springville High School teacher has been sentenced to five years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to enticing a child for immoral purposes.

Circuit Court Judge Jim Hill dismissed two counts of sodomy against Randall F. Hubbard as part of the plea agreement, which also required that he lose his teaching certification.  

The St. Clair County School System placed Hubbard on administrative leave last year after officials learned that he had illicitly invited a 15-year-old student to his home in fall of 2000.  He and the student continued to have a consensual relationship for the next seven years, authorities said, by which time the student had passed the legal age of consent.

Durden murder trial set for 2011

A Moody man is expected to be tried early next year for  the murder of his grandfather and attempted murder of his grandmother.

Jordan Tyler Durden remains in the St. Clair County Jail without bond while awaiting trial.  He is charged with fatally stabbing his 69-year-old grandfather, John Calvin Durden, and attempting to kill his grandmother, Eva Durden, at their home in Moody in 2008.

Circuit Court Judge Charles Robinson has tentatively set the case for trial in late January or early February.  

Durden was arrested in Florida after allegedly stealing his grandparents’ vehicle, which authorities believe he planned to use to commit a crime spree.  He is also charged with possessing prison contraband after two makeshift blade weapons were allegedly found in his possession while incarcerated at the county jail.

Judge recuses self in shooting case

A Pell City man accused of killing his father will likely not go to trial until fall, one of his attorneys has said.  

Presiding Judge Charles Robinson announced at a status conference last week that he would recuse himself from the murder trial involving Robert Carleton, who is accused of fatally shooting his father, William R. Carleton Sr.

The judge cited health problems and the fact that he is hearing a civil case about a property dispute involving the Carleton family as reasons for his decision.  

The murder trial was scheduled to begin later this month, according to attorney Erskine Funderburg, who is representing Carleton.  He said that it could be several weeks before a new judge is appointed to hear the case and doesn’t expect it to begin before September or October.

The St. Clair County District Attorney’s office recused itself from the case last year at the request of the Carleton family.  Prosecutors from Madison County are now handling the case for the state.

Carleton was indicted last June for the shooting death of his father, which took place in March 2009, on the family’s property on Wolf Creek Road South.  He told authorities that the fatal shot was fired in self-defense and has remained free on a $250,000 bond.