BUTLER MURDER CASE HAS FIRST WITNESS

(03/04/2009)
Former Wirt County Sheriff, Andy Chevront was among the first witnesses Tuesday in the murder trial of 31-year-old Howard Murray.

Murray is one of three charged in the murder of 33-year-old Brent Butler in 2008. Chevront was in charge of the investigation.

The former sheriff testified that a knife was among the items recovered in an area behind Butler's house.

"The most significant area of blood would have been in the area where the knife was stuck in the ground," said Chevront.

"It was in the area closer to the trailer than those two houses. It would have been west of the bloody stumps that were located in the area," he said.

Two other men charged in the case, 33-year-old Oscar Gibson and 20-year-old Corey Robinson, reached plea agreements and are expected to testify in the Murray trial.