alabama death row | My Crime Library

Jason Osborn Alabama Death Row

Jason Osborn was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for a murder following a robbery. According to court documents Jason Osborn would rob the victim Ricardo Dwayne Brown of money and drugs. Jason Osborn would then runover Ricardo Dwayne Brown with his vehicle and left him to die. Someone would find Ricardo Dwayne Brown unconscious on the street and he would be rushed to the hospital however he would die from his injuries. Jason Osborn would be arrested and charged with capital murder and robbery. Jason Osborn would be convicted and sentenced to death.

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A man was convicted of capital murder on Tuesday in connection with a hit-and-run death during a robbery in 2018.

Jason Michael Osborn, 44, was found guilty of killing Ricardo Dwayne Brown during a hit-and-run robbery on October 28, 2018. Osborn was arrested on December 19, 2020, following a Morgan County grand jury indictment.

On Wednesday, a jury deliberated for about an hour before returning a verdict for the death penalty. Judge Waters imposed the sentence that afternoon.

In 2018, Decatur Police found Brown lying unconscious on 12th Avenue. He was rushed to the hospital but later died from his injuries. It was investigators who determined that Brown had been a victim of a hit-and-run.

Osborn was identified as the driver of the vehicle that struck Brown after detectives said they interviewed several witnesses. Detectives also found Osborn had robbed Brown of money and drugs before allegedly hitting him with the vehicle and driving away.

The trial began Monday, February 6, and concluded on Tuesday. The District Attorney’s Office confirmed the jury had the case for less than an hour before rendering the verdict

The trial now enters the sentencing phase, where the jury will decide if Osborn will receive the death penalty or a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

https://whnt.com/news/decatur/jason-osborn-convicted-of-2018-capital-murder-in-decatur/

Jason Osborn Other News

A Decatur man has been sentenced to death for a 2018 hit-and-run murder.

Jason Michael Osborn, 44, received the sentence from Judge Shelly Slate Water this afternoon following his conviction for capital murder. The jury earlier recommended the death penalty.

Osborn was arrested in September 2019 for the murder of Ricardo Brown, which occurred on Oct. 28, 2018.

Brown was found by Decatur police in a roadway at 407 12th Ave. N.W., unresponsive and bleeding from the head. He later died at Decatur Morgan Hospital.

Police months later arrested Osborn, saying multiple witnesses tied him to the killing. Police and prosecutors said Osborn robbed Brown for money and drugs prior to striking him with his vehicle and fleeing.

“We are pleased that Mr. Brown’s family was able to receive justice in this case, and get closure after several years,” Assistant District Attorney Joe Lewis said

https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2023/02/alabama-man-sentenced-to-death-for-2018-hit-and-run-murder.html

William Marshall Dies On Alabama Death Row

William Marshall who was on Alabama death row for a murder that took place in 2004 has died. According to initial reports William Marshall died in physical distress however his cause of death is not immediately known. William Marshall was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of his stepdaughter Alicia Nicole Bentley who was fifteen years old at the time of her death.

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A man sitting on Alabama Death Row died Sunday after being in “physical distress,” according to a prison spokesperson.

William Marshall, 58, was sentenced to death in 2005 after being convicted of capital murder in Jefferson County for killing his stepdaughter, Alicia Nicole Bentley, in 2004. Alicia was 15 years old.

He was being held on the state’s death row, located inside William C. Holman Correctional Facility

Marshallwas taken to a hospital near Atmore, where Holman is located, “following a report of physical distress,” said Alabama Department of Corrections spokesperson Kelly Betts. He was then transported to a hospital in Dothan after medical staff in Atmore determined he needed a higher level of care.

“His condition deteriorated and he became unresponsive. Staff was unable to revive him, and he was pronounced deceased,” Betts said. She added that Marshall “had suffered from multiple ongoing health issues.”

The ADOC Law Enforcement Services Division is investigating Marshall’s death.

https://www.al.com/news/2023/02/alabama-death-row-inmate-dies-in-prison-cause-of-death-under-investigation.html

Kenneth Smith Execution Scheduled For Tonight

Kenneth Smith is scheduled to be executed tonight by the State of Alabama for a murder for hire. According to court document Kenneth Smith was hired by Charles Sennett Sr, a pastor at a local church to murder his wife Elizabeth Sennett. Elizabeth Sennet would be murdered in her home. When police realised it was not a robbery gone wrong they began to take a closer look at Charles Sennett Sr who would kill himself before he could be arrested. Kenneth Smith would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. The one legal standout to this case is the jury recommended life in prison however the judge would sentence him to death.

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Alabama is preparing to execute a man convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife, even though a jury recommended he receive life imprisonment instead of a death sentence.

Kenneth Smith, 57, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison on Thursday evening. Prosecutors said Smith was one of two men who were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance.

Elizabeth Sennett was found dead on March 18, 1988, in the couple’s home on Coon Dog Cemetery Road in Alabama’s Colbert County. The coroner testified that the 45-year-old woman had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of the neck. Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr, who was the pastor of the Westside Church of Christ in Sheffield, killed himself one week after his wife’s death when the murder investigation started to focus on him as a suspect, according to court documents.

Smith’s final appeals focused on the state’s difficulties with intravenous lines at the last two scheduled lethal injections. One execution was carried out after a delay, and the other was called off as the state faced a midnight deadline to get the execution underway. Smith’s attorneys also raised the issue that judges are no longer allowed to sentence an inmate to death if a jury recommends a life sentence.

John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted in the slaying, was executed in 2010. “I’m sorry. I don’t ever expect you to forgive me. I really am sorry,” Parker said to the victim’s sons before he was put to death.

According to appellate court documents, Kenneth Smith told police in a statement that it was, “agreed for John and I to do the murder” but that he just took items from the house to make it look like a burglary. Smith’s defense at trial said he agreed to beat up Elizabeth Sennett but that he did not intend to kill her, according to court documents.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Smith’s request to review the constitutionality of his death sentence.

Kenneth Smith was initially convicted in 1989, and a jury voted 10-2 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed. His conviction was overturned on appeal in 1992. He was retried and convicted again in 1996. This time, the jury recommended a life sentence by a vote of 11-1, but a judge overrode the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Smith to death.

In 2017, Alabama became the last state to abolish the practice of letting judges override a jury’s sentencing recommendation in death penalty cases, but the change was not retroactive and therefore did not affect death row prisoners like Smith.

The Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama-based nonprofit that advocates for inmates, said that Smith stands to become the first state prisoner sentenced by judicial override to be executed since the practice was abolished.

Smith filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to block his upcoming execution because of reported problems at recent lethal injections. Smith’s attorneys pointed to a July execution of Joe Nathan James Jr., which an anti-death penalty group claimed was botched. The state disputed those claims. A federal judge dismissed Smith’s l awsuit last month, but also cautioned prison officials to strictly follow established protocol when carrying out Thursday’s execution plan

In September, the state called off the scheduled execution of inmate Alan Miller because of difficulty accessing his veins. Miller said in a court filing that prison staff poked him with needles for over an hour and at one point, they left him hanging vertically on a gurney before announcing they were stopping for the night. Prison officials said they stopped because they were facing a midnight deadline to get the execution underway

https://apnews.com/article/alabama-executions-fd4937918b0529c07c005ace7a357b84

Jimmy O’Neal Spencer Sentenced To Death In Alabama

Jimmy O’Neal Spencer has been sentenced to death by a Alabama jury for a triple murder. According to court documents Jimmy O’Neal Spencer would murder Martha Dell Reliford, 65, Marie Kitchens Martin, 74, and Martin’s great-grandson, Colton Ryan Lee, 7. Marie Kitchens Martin was murdered during a robbery and seven year old Colton Ryan Lee was killed to eliminate a witness to the murders. Martha Dell Reliford who lived across the street was murdered the same night. Jimmy O’Neal Spencer who is a violent offender was just released from prison.

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A Marshall County circuit judge this morning ruled that prosecutors can seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing three people four years ago.

WAAY reported that the decision came after a defense witness testified that Jimmy O’Neal Spencer, 55, charged with capital murder, has an IQ lower than the U.S. Supreme Court’s recommended range for intellectual disability.

Spencer is accused of the July 13, 2018 deaths of Martha Dell Reliford, 65, Marie Kitchens Martin, 74, and Martin’s great-grandson, Colton Ryan Lee, 7

Spencer’s lawyers say he is not mentally competent to be executed, arguing in court documents last month that he is “intellectually disabled.” Prosecutors say his mental capacity shows he should be considered eligible

Circuit Judge Tim Riley will hear the arguments.

At the time of the murders, the homeless convict was a violent offender just out of prison. Authorities said Spencer strangled and stabbed Martin before taking off with an undisclosed amount of cash. Lee, they said, died from blunt force trauma.

The boy and his great-grandmother were found dead that Friday at her Mulberry Street home in Guntersville. Reliford – also killed by blunt force trauma – was found dead in her home across the street the same night. Investigators said she was hit with the flat side of a hatchet, stabbed and robbed.

Spencer had a string of arrests beginning in 1984 at the age of 19 involving violent offenses, and was twice sentenced to life imprisonment. Yet he was granted parole on Nov. 2, 2017 and released to a homeless shelter in Birmingham, where he was supposed to remain for six months. He left three weeks later.

Spencer traveled to Guntersville, where he had several run-ins with law enforcement and was charged for multiple violations of the law, from traffic offenses and possession of drug paraphernalia, to attempting to elude police, resisting arrest and illegal possession of a firearm. However, his parole was not revoked.

https://www.al.com/news/2022/10/jimmy-oneal-spencers-trial-to-begin-alabama-man-faces-execution-in-3-murders.html

Brandon Sykes Sentenced To Death In Alabama

Brandon Sykes was sentenced to death in Alabama for the murder of his ex wife. According to court documents Brandon Sykes was responsible for the murder of his ex wife Keisha Sykes who disappeared from her Alabama home in February 2015. According to reports Keisha Sykes vehicle was found several days after her disappearance and the vehicle had been torched. Keisha Sykes, whose blood would be found in her bed and in Brandon Sykes truck, remains have never been found. Brandon Sykes would be found guilty of three counts of Capital murder and the jury recommended the death penalty.

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A Vernon man accused of killing his ex-wife in 2015 was found guilty by a jury, 24th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Andy Hamlin announced Wednesday.

Brandon Sykes, 40, was found guilty Tuesday of three counts of capital murder in the death of Keisha Sykes, a 29-year-old mother of three. After a brief deliberation period Wednesday, the jury recommended he be sentenced to death.

The trial in Lamar County Circuit Court lasted three weeks, with the jury reaching a decision Tuesday, finding Sykes guilty of murder during the commission of a burglary, kidnapping and robbery.

“I appreciate the jury’s careful deliberation,” Hamlin said. “This was a challenging case in that Ms. Sykes’ body has never been found. But the evidence very clearly shows the defendant committed this murder, and went to great lengths to cover it up.”

Brandon Sykes was arrested on grand jury indictments three months after Turner disappeared from her Vernon home in February 2015. Her vehicle was found several days later, burned and abandoned in the New Hope, Mississippi area. Investigators discovered Keisha Sykes’ blood in her home and in the bed of the defendant’s truck, in addition to cell phone records and data proving his guilt.

“This verdict and sentence signifies justice for Keisha and her family. My hope is that it helps them find some measure of closure,” Hamlin said. “They have waited a very long time for this.”

The case was investigated by Vernon Police Department, the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation

“The different departments worked together and did an excellent job of piecing the evidence together. My hat is off to them for all of the hard work and efforts,” Hamlin said.

The case was tried by Hamlin and Alabama Assistant Attorneys General Kenneth Gibbs and Katie Langer.

“I’m so thankful for Kenny and Katie and the members of the Attorney General’s Office. They have worked tirelessly on this case. This was a complete team effort. Justice was served,” Hamlin said.

Man found guilty of capital murder in ex-wife’s death, jury recommends death penalty