Michael Lee White
Robbinsville – After 13 ½ long years, justice has finally been served.
A jury found 47-year-old Stecoah resident Michael Lee White guilty of felony first-degree sex offense with a child May 8, following an abbreviated trial in Graham County Superior Court.
As part of his sentencing, White will serve 300-369 months (25-30 ¾ years) in prison. He was given credit for 2,567 days already served.
Residing at a listed address of 379 Dry Creek Road, White was ordered to register as a lifetime sex offender. He will also be subject to lifetime, satellite-based monitoring.
Court records state that the sexual offenses with the minor started Dec. 26, 2010 and continued through June 30, 2012. The victim was seven years old when the acts began.
The minor is now an adult, but will not be named in this report.
This conviction is the second on behalf of the State of North Carolina, which originally found White guilty of sexual offense with a child Sept. 9, 2015. At the time, he was ordered to serve the same prison term – with the only difference that he also have no contact with the victim.
That case was built around incidents that occurred from Feb. 1, 2012 – May 23, 2012, in which a true bill of indictment was returned for the case July 8, 2013. White’s initial arrest was May 1, 2013.
However, court records show that the first conviction was overturned May 30, 2019. The N.C. Court of Appeals granted the reversal of the judgment based on what was deemed “error in the record and proceedings” of the court of appeals, but does not detail what those errors were.
Rich Cassady served as the court-appointed attorney for White in last week’s trial. Michael James Van Buren represented the state’s prosecution efforts, while Superior Court Judge Lisa C. Bell presided over the trial.