Trial begins in 21 year old murder case

James Douglas Bussey

Calhoun County jurors  heard opening arguments Monday in the trial of 50 year old James Douglas Bussey of Leesburg, charged with the murder of his wife Diana Bussey 21 years ago in a Bynum gas station where she worked. 

Bussey,  was indicted by a grand jury in May 2011, charged with murder in connection with his wife’s death.

The 21-year-old woman worked as a clerk at the Exxon Discount Food Mart on Alabama 202 in Bynum. A customer found her fatally shot in the head at the store shortly after midnight on June 26, 1993.

Calhoun County Assistant District Attorney Sheila Field in her opening statements told jurors that all the evidence found by the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit, which investigated the death, points to Bussey as his wife’s killer.

Field said that Bussey’s defense attorneys will argue that three men were seen by the defendant at the gas station the night his wife was shot, but she added that police in 1993 investigated those claims and found nothing.

Dan King, one of Bussey’s attorneys, told jurors that a potential eyewitness told investigators that he was with two other men when they robbed and shot a convenience store clerk in Bynum in 1993. The witness described the crime scene in detail,  but he added that the man later recanted his statements to police.

Marvin Bussey, the defendant’s father, died in 2007, King said, and a dispute between family members and Bussey over his father’s estate resulted in several of those family members telling police that Bussey killed his wife.

Fred Lawton, another of Bussey’s attorneys, said the defendant plans to testify during the trial.

The trial is to resumes today in an Anniston courtroom.