Youthful offender hearing delayed for Henry County teen

A judge postponed a youthful offender hearing for a Newville teenager charged with manslaughter on Friday after the unexpected death of the victim’s grandmother.

Circuit Court Judge Larry Anderson rescheduled the hearing for Christopher Michael Newman, 19, of Henry County Road 103. Henry County Sheriff’s investigators arrested Newman on Jan. 3, 2008, and charged him with shooting his neighbor and friend, 15-year-old Joey Drescher, to death during a hunting-related incident.

Newman was charged with felony manslaughter and released from custody after he posted a $5,000 bond.

District Attorney Doug Valeska asked for the hearing on Friday to be postponed after Drescher’s grandmother died earlier that morning. Valeska said Drescher’s grandmother had traveled from out of town to possibly testify at the hearing.

Henry County Coroner Derek Wright said he was called to Joe Drescher’s home in the Tumbleton community around 7:15 a.m. Friday to the death of Vivian Drescher, 71, of Albertville.

“She was getting ready to go to the hearing, and had a massive heart attack,” Wright said. “It’s my understanding stress is the number one reason for heart attacks.”

Anderson scheduled the hearing to be heard in Henry County Circuit Court on Feb. 20, when he will determine whether Newman will be tried as an adult or as a youth. If he is granted youthful offender status, it would seal the case file.

According to a previous Dothan Eagle report, Newman was charged with the crime after he admitted to shooting at what he believed was a deer in a thick wooded area off Henry County Road 91 near Shorterville. The bullet struck Drescher in the chest and he died in the woods.