Conviction upheld in 2008 Worth County murder case

ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Worth County man accused of murdering his wife in 2008.

Clifford Jacob White was found guilty of murdering his wife, Linda White. He appealed to the state’s highest court, asserting that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his malice murder conviction and that he received ineffective assistance from his trial counsel.

Evidence showed that White and his wife were the caretakers for a baby girl born to a friend of White’s sister. At some point, White developed a romantic relationship with his neighbor, Adrianna Wray. He told Wray that he and his wife were not getting along, and that if she tried to leave him and take the baby, he would kill her.

Clifford White’s sister, April Sanchez, and her husband, Marco Sanchez, lived with the Whites for some time but moved out during the week of Jan. 21, 2008, because they were not getting along with Linda White. When they moved back into the home a few days later, White told them his wife had moved out and left him. He also told them not to open the freezer on the porch because something was wrong with it, and that if they saw blood in the house, it was because his dog had killed a cat in the house.

On the afternoon of Jan. 23, White went to Wray’s workplace and asked her to cash a $10,000 check made out to his wife. White had his wife’s purse containing her identification to assist in cashing the check. White told Wray that his wife had “gotten in a white car with some guy and drove off” and was not coming back. He also asked Wray later that night if he could store some meat in her freezer because his was not working.

White told a relative that his wife had left him and that she had gone to Alabama. He asked this relative if he could borrow a backhoe so he could dig a hole to bury trash in.

On Jan. 25, White’s brother-in-law was attempting to repair a water pipe at White’s home, and when he moved the freezer, the door opened and he saw the wife’s body inside. The brother-in-law told his wife, and they went somewhere to call the police. White first denied to the officers that he had a freezer, but later admitted there was one on his back porch.

He gave police permission to look inside and they found the body, which was partially covered with a bag over her head.

Investigators found blood in several locations in the home and a hammer containing blood in a box in the laundry room. They also collected a pair of gloves that contained the victim’s blood. She had four lacerations to her scalp caused by blunt force trauma, abrasions and bruises all over her body, including defensive wounds, multiple skull fractures and hemorrhages in her scalp.

White testified at trial and admitted to killing his wife with a hammer following arguments regarding his wife’s care for the baby. He said he did not intend to kill her, and admitted to lying to police about his whereabouts and to others about her whereabouts.

On March 11, 2009, a Worth County grand jury indicted White on charges of murder, felony murder and aggravated assault. Following a June 23-25, 2009 trial, the jury found him guilty on all counts, and he was sentenced to life in prison. The trial court merged the aggravated assault count into malice murder.

Even though the court purported to merge the felony murder count into malice murder, the former was actually vacated by operation of law. White’s motion for a new trial was filed on July 8, 2009, amended by new counsel on Feb. 5, 2016, and denied on May 19, 2016. White’s motion for out-of-time appeal was filed on March 20,2017, and granted on the same day.

His notice of appeal was also filed on March 20, 2017. The case was docketed in the state Supreme Court for the term that began in December and submitted for a decision on the briefs.

Jennifer Parks