Casino expansion protester’s jury trial moved to later date

WETUMPKA, Ala. — An appeal in the on-going fight over an Alabama casino expansion has been postponed.

On Wednesday morning, Wayland Gray announced on Facebook that his jury trial, originally scheduled to start Monday in Elmore County District Court, has been moved to Jan. 12.

Gray and three other men were arrested in February 2013 near the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ Wind Creek Casino in Wetumpka, Ala., for trespassing after they tried to conduct a prayer service for their ancestors once buried there. Expansion efforts at the casino overlap with Hickory Ground, a pre-removal burial ground and sacred site for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, headquartered in Okmulgee, Okla. The $246 million casino construction project has unearthed 57 sets of human remains, prompting a federal lawsuit from the Oklahoma tribe and protests from its citizens.

Trespassing charges against the other three protesters were dropped, as was a felony complaint against Gray for allegedly making a terrorist threat against the facility and its management. After refusing to accept a plea bargain, Gray was convicted last August of criminal conduct and trespassing and sentenced to two years’ probation and a $350 fine. He is appealing that decision, hence the jury trial.