BRIEF: Judge rules on motions for McCormick trial.

Byline: Brian Lazenby

Oct. 2--Special Judge Jon K. Blackwood ruled today on several outstanding motions in the capital murder case of Michael Lee McCormick.

Mr. McCormick is accused of killing Donna Nichols on Valentine's Day 1985.

He was convicted of the murder in 1987 and sentenced to death, but he was later awarded a new trial.

Judge Blackwood ruled that taped statements by an undercover police officer who offered Mr. McCormick the opportunity to make some money by participating in a murder for hire scheme in Knoxville can be presented to the jury.

Defense lawyer Mike Richardson had argued that the scheme was a fabrication of …