Delay sought in wrongful-death suit

ABERDEEN — Attorneys for John Howard Strickland Jr. have asked a federal judge to stay proceedings in a wrongful- death lawsuit until Strickland’s criminal case is resolved.

A judge has not ruled on the motion filed last week.

The 21-year-old Strickland, who now lives in San Antonio, Texas, is scheduled for trial July 24 in Lafayette County Circuit Court in Oxford on two counts of drug impairment causing the deaths of siblings John William Wheat and Sarah Katherine Wheat on Oct. 27, 2012.

The fatal vehicular accident occurred on U.S. 278 in Lafayette County.

If convicted, Strickland faces up to 25 years in prison.

Frances Z. Wheat, the siblings’ mother, filed a wrongful- death lawsuit against Strickland and his parents in federal court in Aberdeen.

No trial date has been set.