Burke County Man Awaiting Trial For Two Murders Wants New Attorney

A Burke County man awaiting trial for a 2016 double murder has asked the courts to fire his attorneys and allow him to represent himself in the case.

39-year old Scott Devon Hemphill is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of first-degree kidnapping in the deaths of 29-year-old Spencer Jermain Murray and 35-year-old Albert Alexander Austin. Murray and Austin were found in the trunk of a burned car in September 2016 in Morganton. Three of Hemphill’s co-defendants already have pleaded guilty in connection with the deaths, including two people who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Hemphill is on his third set of attorneys since being charged. A motion releated to Hemphill’s requst for a new lawyer was set to be heard in Burke County Superior Court last Friday, but when deputies went to pick him up Thursday at the state prison where he’s being held, he couldn’t be released to their custody. State Prison officials say he assaulted a correctional officer the day prior to the scheduled hearing.

A new court date has not been scheduled.