White Murder Trial Begins Today

Article taken from The Portsmouth Daily Times, Monday, November 3, 2003

Minford man accused of shooting
girlfriend faces life prision sentence

A Minford man accused of killing his girlfriend and then fleeing the area goes of trial today for aggravated murder.

Richard Austin White, 29, is accused of shooting his girlfriend on May 8. He was later caught in North Carolina while trying to steal a car.

The case will be heard in the Scioto Common Pleas Court of Judge William Marschall, where White faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for 20 years.

According to a Scioto County Sheriff's Department report, White allegedly shot his girlfriend Teresa Gayle BishopFinn, 25, in the head while she was lying on a couch in the living room of their home at 2137 Kinker Road near Minford.

White was arrested on May 11 in Moore County, N.C. Moore County Sheriff Lane Carter said North Carolina authorities were alerted to watch for White, who lived in Moore County and still had relatives there.

After receiving a report of a suspicious man in the area Moore County offivers used helicopters and tracking dogs to find White.

Carter said officers also found the van White had been driving, which contained a rifle.

White was returned to Scioto County and charged with aggravated murder with a firearm specification. He entered a plea of not guilty on May 23.

MARK SHAFFER

Jurors saw a videotaped interview of a man accused of shooting his girlfriend in May, in the Scioto County Common Pleas Court of Judge William Marshall on Wednesday.

The tape was of Richard Austin White, 29, who was returned to Scioto County on May 12 after he waived extradition from North Carolina. He is accused of aggravated murder.

White said he had fled to North Carolina after his girlfriend, Teresa Finn, 25, of Minford, had accidentally shot herself in the head with a .30.-.30 Winchester lever-action rifle at their trailer on Kinker Road.

The tape, taken with a video camera in the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office, shows White eating with two deputies, Capt. John Murphy and Detective John Koch. They had just arrived from Moore County, N.C., after an eight-hour drive.
White fled to North Carolina after the shooting and was arrested while trying to steal a car. He fled from deputies and they had to use search dogs and helicopters to find him. He waived an extradition hearing.

On the tape, White said he and Finn had been together for almost two years and had been living in Minford for six to eight months. He said they were engaged to be married, but were waiting for her divorce to finalize.

He said that, despite what people thought, they were a happy couple even though they fought sometimes.

He said they had gotten into a fight on May 6 and Finn was staying two doors down at her brother’s house. White said they had made up on May 7 and were alone in the trailer on the night of the shooting. He said they had been drinking alcohol.

“Then she said, ‘Want to smoke a doobie?’” White said. “I said sure.”
White explained to the deputy how Finn was sitting on the couch when the shooting occurred, going so far as to sketch the trailer’s layout on a notepad and using a pair of chairs to demonstrate how she was lying.

He said she got upset when the tray they used to roll the marijuana cigarette “klinked” on the loaded rifle under the couch.

White explained to Koch that the gun was always loaded and cocked and all she had to do was point it at someone if they broke in the house.

“She goes, ‘I told you about this,’” White said. He explained that he got up and went to the refrigerator. Then the rifle went off, hitting Finn in the head.
“She didn’t move, she didn’t even try to breathe,” White said. “She didn’t do nothing.”

White said he didn’t know if the gun hit a table or the floor.
He covered Finn with a blanket.

“God knows I didn’t want anyone to see her like I did,” White said. “I felt bad about leaving her like that.”

He said he didn’t want to call the police because he was supposed to be in Georgia because he was on probation.

“I left because of all the problems. Why looking at getting arrested because probation violations,” White said. “Would she be alive if I called? See me back in prison and she still wouldn’t be alive.”

He said he just packed his belongings in the van and left.

“I just wanted to hug my momma’s neck and spend one more day with my son,” White said.

He said he didn’t know what to do, so he left a note saying the couple was going to Oklahoma and that they would call Friday.

After the videotape, Koch was called to testify again.

He said a preliminary autopsy showed that the bullet struck Finn’s head in the area of the right temple and exited from the center of her forehead. Koch said the couch, blankets and pillows were sent to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for forensic testing and a recreation of the shooting. He said photos would be introduced later in the trial.

Marshall said the trial is expected to run into next week because of all the witnesses yet to be called.

Deputies from Moore County, N.C., are expected to testify today.

MARK SHAFFER can be reached at (740) 353-3101, Ext. 235.