alabama death row | My Crime Library

Michael Brown Alabama Death Row

Michael Brown was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for the murder of Betty Kirkpatrick. According to court documents Michael Brown would murder Betty Kirkpatrick during a robbery. Michael Brown would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Michael Brown 2021 Information

Inmate:	BROWN, MICHAEL
AIS:	0000Z707

Institution:	HOLMAN PRISON

Michael Brown More News

The State’s evidence tended to show the following. On October 12, 2001, Ricky Kirkpatrick and his wife discovered the body of his 65-year-old mother, Betty Kirkpatrick, in her mobile home in Hueytown. Her head was covered with a plastic bag and her throat had been cut. A knife and a paper towel were lying on her chest. Betty Kirkpatrick’s purse and her gold 1986 Ford Thunderbird automobile were missing. The forensic pathologist testified that Betty Kirkpatrick died of “asphyxia by strangulation and smothering.” (R. 431.) She also had bruises on her face and hands that, he said, were caused by blunt-force trauma.

Several witnesses testified that they saw Brown driving a gold Thunderbird around the time of the murder. Alisha Spindlow testified that she saw Brown driving a gold Thunderbird and that he told her that he had killed Betty Kirkpatrick. Another individual, Kevin Clayton, testified that he saw Brown two days after the murder, that he was driving a gold Thunderbird, and that he told him that he got the car from a lady and the car would not be “hot” until the lady’s body was discovered. Kelly Watkins said that Brown was driving a gold Thunderbird around the time of the murder and that he told her that he had killed the lady who owned it. Watkins said that Brown told her that he had tried to choke the victim but she would not die so he cut her throat with a knife he got from the kitchen of her house.

Forensic tests were also conducted on the bloodstains found on the paper towel discovered on Betty Kirkpatrick’s chest. Carl Mauterer, a forensic scientist with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that one stain was tested and found to be consistent with Brown’s blood-Brown could not be excluded as the donor.

Detective Charles Hagler also testified that Brown told him that he went to Betty Kirkpatrick’s mobile home with three other individuals, Robert Smith, Kevin Clayton (who testified at Brown’s trial), and Moses Smiley, to rob Betty Kirkpatrick but that Robert Smith killed Kirkpatrick.

The jury found Brown guilty of the two capital offenses charged in the indictment.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1219327.html

Brandyn Benjamin Alabama Death Row

Brandyn Benjamin was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for the murder of Jimmie Lewis. According to court documents Brandyn Benjamin attempted to rob Jimmie Lewis and during the struggle would shoot and kill him. Brandyn Benjamin would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Brandyn Benjamin 2021 Information

Inmate:	BENJAMIN, BRANDYN JOSEPHE
AIS:	0000Z708

Institution:	HOLMAN PRISON

Brandyn Benjamin More News

The victim, Jimmie Lewis, had gone to Wiregrass Commons Mall about 9:00 p.m. on the night of November 18, 2000, to pick up his wife, who operated a shop in the mall. He had gone to Mrs. Lewis’ shop and determined that she was ready to close, and because it was raining outside, he returned to bring the car closer to the mall exit so that Mrs. Lewis wouldn’t get wet. Mr. Lewis had parked his car in a remote area of the mall parking lot. The defendant had gone to the mall with the specific intent of finding a victim to rob. He watched mall security to see how often they made rounds and also parked his car in an area which wouldn’t raise suspicion. As Jimmie Lewis approached his car, the defendant appeared and apparently demanded the victim’s wallet. A struggle ensued, and the defendant struck the victim several times and shot him twice—once in the chest and once in his leg. The defendant took the victim’s wallet and contents and left the scene. The victim was dead when the police and paramedics arrived shortly thereafter. The defendant later related all of the details of the crime to a friend[, Michael Baker,] indicating that he had no remorse for his actions. [Baker then] went with his attorney to the District Attorney. The District Attorney arranged for a body wire to be placed on [Baker] so that the police could hear the defendant confess his actions once again to [Baker]. The defendant was then arrested and his room searched. A copy of the Dothan Eagle newspaper account of the crime was found in the defendant’s room and later the victim’s wallet was also found.”

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1653451.html

Mohammad Sharifi Alabama Death Row

Mohammad Sharifi was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for a double murder. According to court documents Mohammad Sharifi would murder his wife Sarah Sharifi and Derrick Brown. Mohammad Sharifi would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Mohammad Sharifi 2021 Information

Inmate:	SHARIFI, MOHAMMAD
AIS:	0000Z709

Institution:	HOLMAN PRISON

Mohammad Sharifi More News

The State’s evidence tended to show the following: Mohammad Sharifi, an Iranian national, came to Huntsville in December 1998 on a six-month tourist visa. Before the visa expired he married Sarah Kay Smith, an American citizen. Following his marriage, Sharifi petitioned to change his immigration status from “tourist” to “legal alien.”

Sarah and Sharifi separated in late 1999. Thereafter, Sarah, accompanied by Derrick Brown, met with Sharifi’s caseworker at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services). As a result of that meeting, Sharifi’s petition to become a legal alien was denied, and his immigration status was changed to “illegal alien,” because his tourist visa had expired.

Sharifi purchased a .25-caliber pistol on December 6, 1999. On December 13, 1999, Sharifi went to the apartment he had shared with Sarah and forced his way inside. The Huntsville Police were called to the scene, and Sharifi was prevented from removing anything other than his clothes from the apartment. Sharifi left, promising to return. After Sharifi left, Sarah had the locks on the doors to the apartment changed. When Sharifi returned later that same day and discovered that the locks had been changed, he became upset. Sharifi became even more agitated when he learned that although he was not allowed inside the apartment, Derrick Brown was inside. Sharifi demanded of the apartment manager that Brown be removed.

The manager of the apartment complex filed a missing-person report with the Huntsville Police on December 17, 1999, because the manager had not seen Sarah in several days. December 13, 1999, was the last day Sarah and Brown were seen alive. On December 26, 1999, Sarah Sharifi’s body was found on the banks of the Tennessee River; it was wrapped in black plastic bags and tied with an electrical cord. On January 1, 2000, Brown’s body was found in the Tennessee River; it was partially wrapped in black plastic bags and tied with an electrical cord. Both Sarah and Brown had been shot in the head. Subsequent forensic testing determined that the gun used to shoot both victims was the gun Sharifi purchased in December 1999.

On December 28, 1999, the FBI arrested Sharifi in Los Angeles, California, on an unlawful-flight-to-avoid-prosecution warrant relative to Sarah’s murder. In Sharifi’s possession at the time of his arrest were the murder weapon, a license tag from Brown’s vehicle, Brown’s driver’s license, one of Brown’s credit cards, and a pair of sandals that was later determined to have Sarah’s blood on them.

Sharifi was extradited to Alabama and was incarcerated in the Madison County jail awaiting trial for the two murders. During his incarceration, Sharifi met Tasha Borner, another inmate. Sharifi wrote Borner a number of letters professing his love for her and asking her to testify that they were together on the night of December 13, 1999. Borner, who did not meet Sharifi until 2002, turned the letters over to the district attorney and was given a plea deal in exchange for her testimony against Sharifi.

Sharifi’s defense was that he was in Los Angeles, California, at the time of the murders. Aghaishahabdin Moughari testified that Sharifi came by his house in Huntsville on December 13, 1999, that Sharifi’s car was loaded with his possessions, and that he told him that he was moving to California to find work. Moughari also testified that on December 14, 1999, Sarah came by his house looking for Sharifi.

Sharifi’s father, Hossain Sharifi, testified that at the time of the murders he was living in Iran and that he spoke to Sharifi everyday at approximately 2:00 p.m. Huntsville time. He said that on December 13, 1999, he telephoned the apartment Sharifi had shared with Sarah, and a man answered the telephone and gave the phone to Sarah. He further testified that on December 15, 1999, Sharifi telephoned him in Iran and told him that he had moved to California.

The jury chose to believe the State’s version of the events and convicted Sharifi of murdering Sarah and Brown during one act or pursuant to one course of conduct. After a separate sentencing hearing, the jury, by a vote of 10-2, recommended that Sharifi be sentenced to death. The court then issued an order sentencing Sharifi to death. This appeal, which is automatic in a case involving the death penalty, followed. See § 13A-5-53, Ala.Code 1975.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1046307.html

Christopher Hyde Alabama Death Row

Christopher Hyde was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for a triple murder. According to court documents Christopher Hyde would shoot and kill Randle Lane, the Rev. Rick Peterson and June Williams at a funeral home. Christopher Hyde would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Christopher Hyde 2021 Information

Inmate:	HYDE, CHRISTOPHER SHANE
AIS:	0000Z712

Institution:	HOLMAN PRISON

Christopher Hyde More News

A judge has sentenced Christopher Shane Hyde to death in the 2003 murders of three people during the robbery of a Sumiton funeral home.

Walker County Circuit Court Judge Jerry K. Selman told Hyde at sentencing Thursday that he had killed “three hard-working and much-loved individuals.”

The death sentence by lethal injection brings an automatic appeal.

Selman told Hyde, a Florida ex-convict, he hopes he has time to contemplate the “atrocity” he committed and what he had done to the victims’ family and friends. “And I hope you have time to contemplate what you have done to your mother.”

Hyde’s mother, Wanda Griffis, wept after the sentencing.

A jury in February found Hyde, 32, guilty of capital murder in the deaths of Randle Lane, the Rev. Rick Peterson and June Williams. In a 10-2 decision, jurors had recommended a death sentence.

Lane, Peterson and Williams were found shot to death March 26, 2003, in the embalming room at Bell’s Funeral Chapel in Sumiton. Peterson’s truck and the two men’s wallets also were taken.

Hyde had been released from prison in Florida four months before the killings after serving time for attempted murder, robbery with a weapon and auto theft. His crimes included beating a paraplegic with a microwave oven, according to Broward County court records.

Hyde told investigators that he had come into the funeral home asking to use the restroom, then with a gun “loaded to the hilt” robbed and shot the three. In a taped confession, Hyde described the robbery and killings.

He fled in one victim’s truck, which was abandoned in nearby Argo. Hyde took a bus to Atlanta where he was captured.

According to testimony, Lane was retired as customer service center manager for Batesville Casket Co. in Birmingham, but had continued delivering caskets; Peterson, pastor of Faith Worship Center in Sumiton, was an apprentice at the funeral home working to become a licensed embalmer; and Williams, who managed the funeral home, was head embalmer and funeral director.

https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/DA/20050326/news/606105864/TL

Dionne Eatmon Alabama Death Row

Dionne Eatmon was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for the kidnapping and murders of two people. Dionne Eatmon along with Aundra Marshall would kidnap, beat and later set on fire Clarence and Allison Kile. Dionne Eatmon would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Dionne Eatmon 2021 Information

Inmate:	EATMON, DIONNE
AIS:	0000Z714

Institution:	HOLMAN PRISON

Dionne Eatmon More News

A jury voted 11-1 for the death penalty for a Bessemer man convicted in the fiery deaths of a couple for failure to pay a crack cocaine debt.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Teresa Petelos will sentence Aundra Marshall, 31, on April 22. The judge could accept the jury’s recommended penalty or sentence him to life in prison without parole.

Marshall was convicted late Thursday of capital murder in the February 2004 deaths of Clarence R. Kile, 48, and his wife, Allison Kile, 39.

Prosecutors said the victims were burned alive in the trunk of their car after Clarence Kile failed to pay a drug debt. Defense lawyer Erskine Mathis said he will appeal the conviction. Co-defendant Dionne Eatmon’s trial is scheduled for April.

Assistant District Attorney Lane Tolbert said the Kiles were beaten and bound before being forced into their trunk and driven to a dead- end Brighton street. Gasoline and kerosene were splashed on the car and the Kiles before it was set afire.

Tolbert said the killing was a message to crack addicts in Brighton that if they didn’t pay, the same thing could happen to them.

https://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/DA/20050306/News/603216082/GT