Hinds County, MS: Trial begins this week in JSU student's death Stanley Cole faces life term if found guilty of killing ex-girlfriend

Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com

More than two years after the body of then-missing Jackson State University student Latasha Norman was found in a wooded area, her alleged killer is scheduled to go on trial Tuesday in Hinds County Circuit Court.

Stanley Cole, 26, faces life in prison if convicted of killing Norman, a former girlfriend.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday and take two days to complete. The trial could last two weeks, according to court officials. Jurors won't be sequestered.

Cole's attorney, Hinds County Assistant Public Defender Matt Eichelberger, has submitted a list of more than 100 potential witnesses.

Eichelberger said he can't discuss the case with the trial looming. District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith has said the evidence will show Cole undoubtedly killed Norman.

Norman, 20, was reported missing after attending an afternoon class Nov. 13, 2007. Her badly decomposed body was discovered Nov. 29 in a wooded area of north Jackson, the same day Cole was arrested and charged with murder.

During a police interview, Cole told authorities he picked up Norman from JSU. He said that at some point the two got into a physical altercation and he struck her in the head, knocking her unconscious while they were in the vehicle somewhere near Battlefield Park, Jackson police Detective Juan Cloy testified during Cole's preliminary hearing.

"He said he struck Latasha in the head and knocked her unconscious. He said blood came running out of her nose and he wasn't able to revive her," Cloy testified.

But Cloy said the autopsy appeared to show a puncture or stab wound in the left upper ribs. A forensic anthropologist's examination confirmed the puncture or stab wound.

The defense hired its own forensic pathology expert with taxpayers' money. Circuit Judge Swan Yerger granted a defense motion to spend up to $4,000 to hire the expert.

The defense is expected to challenge the claim that Norman suffered a puncture or stab wound.

A month before she died, Norman filed a simple assault charge against Cole for allegedly slapping her at an eatery in Pearl. By the time Cole appeared in court in that case, Norman was dead.