10/31/16   Cleveland County Murder Trial Set For January

A Cleveland County Capital murder trial will get underway in late January. According to a Cleveland County Heald report, the capital murder trial for Brad Hunter Smith, one of three suspects charged in the killing of 22 year old expectant mother Cherrish Faith Albright last December, is scheduled for  January 23 thru 27 at the Cleveland County courthouse.

Smith is one of three charged with capital murder, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse in connection to Albright's death. Smith and Jonathan Guenther, both 20 at the time, were arrested shortly after the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department discovered Albright's body buried in a wooded area about a mile off Rodgers Road West on the night of December 10. A third suspect, Joshua Alan Brown of Rison, 16 at the time, was also arrested in January 2016 and charged as an adult. All three defendants are being held without bond.

Smith is currently being housed at the Dallas County  Detention facility in Fordyce, while Guenther is in custody of the Cleveland County Jail in Rison. Brown is under house arrest.

According to 13^th Judicial Prosecuting Attorney David Butler, Smith is the only defendant going to trial in January. Butler said trial dates for the other two defendants will be set after the Smith trial is completed. Butler said the death penalty has not been waived in the Smith case even though Smith's attorney requested it be waived.