The Spout Spring man charged with slaying his sister and suspected in the deaths of seven others found at his home last week has hired two Roanoke-based lawyers.
Neil Horn, a former assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Rockbridge County and in Roanoke, said Wednesday that he has been retained as Christopher Speight’s lawyer along with attorney C.J. Covati.
Speight, 39, was arraigned Friday on a single charge of first-degree murder of his sister, Lauralee Sipe. He told the judge he did not need a court-appointed lawyer and would hire one soon.
Sipe’s husband, two of their children, a neighboring couple, their daughter and another teenage boy were also killed at the Snapps Mill Road home, authorities said. Police said they discovered the bodies there Tuesday; Speight surrendered to law enforcement officials the next morning. He has since been jailed without bond.
Horn said he went to Appomattox on Wednesday to have the murder charge transferred from Appomattox County General District Court to the juvenile and domestic relations court.
Juvenile and domestic relations courts have jurisdiction over preliminary matters in felony cases where a person is accused of harming a family member or anyone he lives with or a juvenile.
“We are going to set this case for a preliminary hearing …,” he said. “We expect other charges will be filed.”
He said it was too early to tell whether those charges will also be filed in the juvenile and domestic relations court or if the prosecutor will present them directly to a grand jury for indictment.
Horn said he did not want to openly speculate on what those charges will be, but said he is fairly confident he can anticipate what is coming.
He is certified by the state commission that oversees court-appointed attorneys to be the lead attorney in death penalty cases, he said. Horn also worked as a defense attorney for a Roanoke man facing the death penalty in June 2008. Reginald Killingsworth was convicted of capital murder of a convenience store owner, but avoided the death penalty.
Appomattox County Commonwealth’s Attorney Darrel Puckett said in earlier interviews that more charges are pending. Puckett said that once the investigation wrapped up, he planned to meet with law enforcement officials to determine what charges were appropriate. He agreed in an interview late last week that capital murder charges could be filed.
Virginia law allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty in mass murder cases.
Horn worked as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Rockingham County in the late 1990s, then worked in the same position in Roanoke until starting his own practice in 2004. He said he has prosecuted and defended several homicide cases in the region.
Covati could not be reached Wednesday.
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