Murder trial begins today

State Attorney Glenn Hess will serve as the lead prosecutor in his first Jackson County murder trial since the former judge took over his new job.
The first-degree murder trial of Danny Jackson is scheduled to get unde rway at 9 a.m. today.
Jackson, of Gordon, Ala. and formerly of Malone,  is accused of shooting 47-year-old Lonnie Lee Baxter to death last April.
On April 6, 2008, Baxter was found dead on the floor of the home he rented at 4357 Dickson Road near Greenwood.
Deputies also found 38-year-old Gianna Simmons critically shot there the same day. Authorities said at the time that Simmons was wounded by approximately 200 pellets of birdshot.
She was found injured in a bedroom of the home where Baxter’s body was found, after she called to report she had been shot. Deputies got that call while responding to an earlier anonymous report of trouble at the location.