The Mississippi Court of Appeals Court is scheduled to hear arguments during this term of cases tried in Lauderdale and Clarke counties.

One is Carl Spurlock's appeal of his conviction of armed robbery and murder in a 2004 slaying. Spurlock was sentenced to life in prison in 2007 in Lauderdale County. Spurlock was accused of robbing and then stabbing 57-year-old Larry Finch nine times.

Shawn Singleton is also appealing his murder conviction and life sentence without parole for the slaying of an elderly Clarke County resident in 2005. Singleton, of Gilbertown, Ala., was convicted in 2007 of capital murder in the slaying of 73-year-old Elmer Dobbins. Prosecutors said Dobbins' son found the man, bludgeoned and stabbed, lying dead behind a tool shed at the man's home.

The appeals court will also hear a case May 20 from a former teacher who was convicted of sexual battery involving a 15-year-old student. John Anthony Magyar of Leland, Miss., was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted in Washington County in 2005. Prosecutors say Magyar was a teacher at Greenville Christian School when the crime occurred.

Among other cases the Appeals Court will hear this term:

Justin Brent Turner's appeal of his conviction of two counts of DUI
manslaughter related to a 2006 accident. Turner was convicted in 2007 in Leake County in the deaths of Bailey A. Trippe of Carthage, and Kathy Krystine Harris of Sebastopol. Authorities say the two were killed when Turner's pickup truck struck their sports utility vehicle on a county road east of Carthage. The SUV hit a tree and caught fire. Trippe and Harris were pronounced dead at the scene. Prosecutors say a blood test showed Turner's blood alcohol level was 0.10 percent. Mississippi's legal intoxication level is 0.08 percent.

Alonzo Derell Blackmore's post conviction appeal of his manslaughter conviction and 20-year sentence in 2004 in Warren County. Inmates use post conviction petitions to claim they have found new evidence that might win them a new trial. Blackmore had been charged with murder in the 2003 shooting death of 32-year-old May Shelley. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter shortly before his trial began. Prosecutors say Shelley was shot while she and Blackmore were arguing in her car outside the house they shared.