Trial in Anniston murder delayed

James Douglas Bussey

A Calhoun County  judge  Friday pushed back the trial for a man charged in the 1993 shooting death of his wife.  Calhoun County Circuit Judge Brian Howell ruled that the trial, which was to start today, will begin Nov. 3.  50 year old James Douglas Bussey,  of Leesburg was indicted by a grand jury in May 2011, charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife, Diana Bussey.  The 21-year-old convenience store clerk was found by a customer where she was working at the Exxon Discount Food Mart on Alabama 202 in Bynum shortly after midnight on June 26, 1993. She had been fatally shot in the head.   Bussey said he was at the gas station the night she was killed helping her close up the shop.  Bussey’s attorney, Richard Fricks, asked the court Friday to be withdrawn from the case because Bussey was behind on payments to Fricks. In his request to be withdrawn, Fricks also states that Bussey is not “fully and properly cooperating” with Fricks.
“I want his be  Howell agreed to allow Bussey to hire another attorney, giving him three weeks to do so. The trial date was moved, to give Bussey’s new attorney, once hired or appointed by the court, time to prepare.
st interest to be served. This is a very, very serious case,” Fricks told the court.