Shonelle Jackson was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for the murder of a man during a robbery. According to court documents Shonelle Jackson and three other men would cut off another car in order to rob it. A gunfire broke out and the victim was shot and killed. Shonelle Jackson and the three other men were arrested and convicted. Shonelle Jackson was the only one sentenced to death. Tons of problems with this case
Shonelle Jackson 2022 Information
Inmate:
JACKSON, SHONELLE ANDRE
AIS:
0000Z643
Institution:
HOLMAN PRISON
Shonelle Jackson More News
In the spring of 1997, four young men in a car near Montgomery, Ala., cut off a second vehicle with two men inside, intending to rob them. During a brief gun fight, the driver of the second car was killed. Prosecutors charged all four men in the first car with capital murder, but only one received a death sentence. How Shonelle Jackson was singled out raises — yet again — troubling questions about the fairness of the death penalty, and especially about Alabama’s peculiarly arbitrary judicial override system.
Alabama is one of three states that allow judges to second-guess a jury’s recommendation of life in prison and change it to a death sentence. Delaware and Florida also allow overrides, but they happen only rarely. In Alabama, 36 of the nearly 200 people on death row were sent there by judges overriding juries, according to a recent examination of the practice by the New Yorker. (In California, the jury decides, but a judge can reduce a death sentence to life without parole.)
In the Jackson case, a 12-member jury voted unanimously in 1998 for a life sentence rather than execution, in part because of evidence that the fatal bullet came from another defendant’s gun. But invoking “judicial discretion,” Judge William Gordon changed the sentence to death based on aggravating factors. One of the factors cited by the judge — who also acknowledged that Jackson might not have been the killer — was that he had declined to accept a plea bargain, thereby failing to take responsibility for his actions. So much for innocent until proven guilty. The other three men, friends before the shootout, received lighter sentences because they testified against Jackson, who knew them only in passing. One was sentenced to life; the other two come up for parole in 2015 and 2017.
Despite misgivings expressed in dissents, the Supreme Court has affirmed Alabama’s use of judicial discretion in other cases. But that the practice is legal doesn’t make it right. According to the state’s Equal Justice Initiative, Alabama judges, who are elected rather than appointed, use the override inconsistently. Some use it more often against black defendants, some judges use it more than others, some counties use it more than others. Judges also invoke it more often in the lead-up to elections, apparently to show that they are tough on crime.
This page has been steady in its opposition to the death penalty. But if states are going to embrace such barbarism, they must respect the individual rights guaranteed under the Constitution, including its 8th Amendment protection against arbitrary punishment. It’s one thing for an elected judge to be “tough on crime.” It’s something entirely different when the judge overrules a jury’s call for leniency and imposes a death sentence.
Artez Hammonds was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for the murder and sexual assault of a woman. According to court documents Aretz Hammonds would break into the victim home who would be sexually assaulted and murdered. Artez Hammonds would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Artez Hammonds 2022 Information
Inmate:
HAMMONDS, ARTEZ
AIS:
0000Z630
Institution:
HOLMAN PRISON
Artez Hammonds More News
Artez Hammonds sits on death row, where the killer has been waiting for 24 years. After all this time, no execution date is set.
On May 15, 1990 Marylin Mitchell prepared to bake a cake for her mother’s birthday. The future could not have been brighter for the 22-year-old who had, only days earlier, graduated college.
With a nursing degree, she began work at a what is now Southeast Health, moved into her new Dothan home, and prepared to marry her high school sweetheart.
A bright future and beautiful dreams, though, quickly turned into a horrid nightmare.
On a spring afternoon 31 years ago Hammonds, who had delivered furniture to Ms. Mitchell a day or so earlier, returned to her home. He brutally stabbed her 38 times and sexually assaulted her.
Within a few minutes. he had showered, smoked a cigarette, and flipped the ashes on Ms. Mitchell’s body. In broad daylight he walked out of her Chapelwood home unnoticed.
It took Dothan police six years to track down Hammonds, finally linked to the crime scene by DNA.
Given his violent history that included the attempted murder of another woman—he almost drowned her in a toilet—a jury wasted no time convicting Hammonds. Houston County Circuit Judge Larry Anderson gave him a death sentence.
Years went by as Hammond continued to fight his conviction through the courts.
However, by 2017, he had exhausted all his appeals and it appeared his death sentence would be carried out soon.
But, not only is he still alive, there still has been no execution date set.
The reason is a 2018 bill passed by Alabama lawmakers that allowed the use of nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative to lethal injection and inmates were given a choice of how they wanted to be executed.
Artez Hammonds and a few dozen others on death row chose nitrogen hypoxia.
But, three years later, the Alabama Department of Corrections still has not approved protocols for using nitrogen gas. Those will, one day, be developed by ADOC in consultation with the Alabama Attorney General’s office, per AG spokesperson Mike Lewis in an email to WTVY.
Until that matter is settled Hammonds, who turns 51 in June, will do what Marylin Michell couldn’t do—live.
Carey Grayson was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for the kidnapping and murder of a woman. According to court documents Carey Grayson was one of four men who would kidnap a female hitchhiker who would later be tortured and murdered. Carey Grayson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Carey Grayson 2022 Information
Inmate:
GRAYSON, CAREY DALE
AIS:
0000Z598
Institution:
HOLMAN PRISON
Carey Grayson More News
On the night of [February 21, 1994,] Vickie Deblieux, age 37, was dropped off by a friend on I-59 near Chattanooga, Tennessee, to hitchhike to her mother’s home in Louisiana.
“Four teenagers, the defendant, Kenny Loggins, Trace Duncan, and Louis Mangione, all who had been drinking alcohol and using drugs, saw her hitchhiking on I-59 at the Trussville exit in Jefferson County, Alabama. They offered to take her to Louisiana; instead they took her to a wooded area, on the pretense of picking up another vehicle.
“After arriving in this area, they all got out of the vehicle, and began to drink. The defendant, along with the others threw bottles at Ms. Deblieux, who began to run from them. They tackled her to the ground and began to kick her repeatedly all over her body. When they noticed that she was still alive, one of them stood on her throat, supported by the Defendant, until she gurgled blood and said ‘Okay, I’ll party,’ then died.
“They then put her body in the back of a pickup truck and took her and her luggage to Bald Rock Mountain, after removing her clothing and a ring, and they played with her body and then threw her off a cliff.
“They then went to a car wash in Pell City to wash the blood out of the truck. After rummaging through her luggage, they hid the luggage in the woods.
“On their return to Birmingham, they took Mangione home and then returned to Bald Rock Mountain, where they began to mutilate the body by stabbing and cutting her 180 times, removing part of a lung, and removing her fingers and thumbs.
“The next morning defendant’s girlfriend found the three of them in Birmingham asleep in the truck all covered in mud and blood. The defendant told her they got blood on them from a dog.
“On [February 26, 1994,] three rock climbers found Ms. Deblieux’s body and called the police. Her body was taken to the medical examiner’s office.
“The medical examiner found the following injuries; almost every bone in her skull was fractured, every bone in her face was fractured at least once, lacerations on the face over these fractures, a missing tooth, left eye was collapsed, right eye was hemorrhaged, tongue discolored, 180 stab wounds (postmortem), two large incisions in her chest, her left lung had been removed and all her fingers and both thumbs were cut off.
“The medical examiner opined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and that she was alive during the beating.
“All defendants were later arrested after Mangione began showing one of Ms. Deblieux’s fingers to friends.
Thomas Ferguson was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for a double murder. According to court documents Thomas Ferguson would shoot and kill a man and his eleven year old son. Apparently Thomas Ferguson and a number of other men robbed a bank and the resulting murders would take place after they had stolen a vehicle and wanted to eliminate all witnesses. Thomas Ferguson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Thomas Ferguson 2022 Information
Inmate:
FERGUSON, THOMAS DALE
AIS:
0000Z639
Institution:
HOLMAN PRISON
Thomas Ferguson More News
The State’s evidence tended to show the following. On July 21, 1997, Harold Pugh and his 11-year old son Joey Pugh were reported missing to the Colbert County Sheriff’s Department. Mike Sennett, a friend of the Pughs, testified that in the early evening hours of July 21, after hearing that the Pughs were missing, he and several friends went looking for the Pughs at Cane Creek in Colbert County. The local authorities and a rescue squad were also searching for the Pughs in this same area. Sennett testified that Harold and his son were avid fishermen. Making one more pass up Cane Creek in his boat before going home, Sennett found the bodies of Harold and Joey Pugh floating in the creek. Autopsies conducted the following day revealed that each victim had been shot twice in the head.
“Several days later, on July 26, 1997, a boat was found in a clearing in a remote wooded area in neighboring Franklin County. In the boat were rods and reels, a tacklebox, life jackets, a baseball-style cap with a wristwatch inside it (on the boat’s front seat), and another baseball-style cap on the backseat. At Ferguson’s trial, the individual who found the boat testified that because he had heard television and radio reports that the sheriff’s department was looking for a boat, a description of which matched that of the boat he found in the wooded area, he telephoned the sheriff’s department.
“Oscar Hood of the Colbert County Sheriff’s Department testified that he received the call concerning the boat and that when he arrived at the location, the boat appeared to be the boat that the authorities were looking for in connection with the Pughs’ murders. Hood ran a registration check on the boat and determined that it was in fact Harold Pugh’s boat. Other testimony at trial showed that a pedestal-type seat had been removed from the boat and that two spent 9mm shell casings were found inside the boat.
“Further testimony revealed that on the day the victims’ bodies were found, two armed men wearing dark-colored army fatigues, hooded shirts, sunglasses, and gloves had robbed the Deposit Guaranty National Bank in Belmont, Mississippi. An employee at the bank testified that she could not identify the men, but that she could identify the truck the men had fled in after the robbery. She described the truck as a black Chevrolet Z-71 pickup truck with a chrome toolbox in the rear bed. Shortly after the robbery, a truck matching that description was found by an officer of the Belmont Police Department five miles from the bank, in a heavily wooded area. The truck, which had been set on fire, was discovered after the police saw the smoke from the fire. On the front passenger-side floorboard of the truck, the police found a pedestal-type seat, which, according to testimony, was typical of the seats found in the front of bass-fishing boats.
“Following his arrest, Ferguson gave police a statement concerning his involvement in the robbery and murders of Harold and Joey Pugh and in the robbery of the bank in Mississippi. Ferguson told police that he and his four codefendants-Mark Moore, Michael Craig Maxwell, Donald Risley, and Kino Graham-had conspired to rob banks to get money. According to Ferguson, they bought clothing matching that described by the employee of the bank robbed in Belmont, Mississippi, to wear during the robberies, and Moore also bought guns, handheld radios, and other items to use in the robberies. Ferguson told police that Moore was the ‘leader’ of the group.
“In addition, Ferguson told police that on the day of the murders, he and the others were looking for two cars to steal to use in the Belmont bank robbery. According to Ferguson, while he, Moore, Maxwell, Graham, and Risley were looking for a car to steal, they saw the Pughs’ truck parked near the boat landing at Cane Creek. When the Pughs arrived at the landing in their boat, Ferguson said, Harold Pugh got out of the boat and into his truck. According to Ferguson, before he knew it, Maxwell was holding a gun to the Pughs and was ordering the Pughs to get back into the boat. Ferguson said that Maxwell jumped into the boat, along with Moore, and that Moore then ordered Ferguson to get into the boat. According to Ferguson, Maxwell was armed with a 9mm pistol and Moore was armed with a .357 pistol. Ferguson maintained that he did not have a weapon. Ferguson stated that they then left in the boat with the victims, heading downstream, while Risley and Graham waited with the truck. According to Ferguson, he heard a shot and saw that Maxwell had shot Harold Pugh. Ferguson claimed that he did not know who shot Joey Pugh, but he did say that Maxwell and Moore threw the victims’ bodies into the creek.
“Ferguson stated that after the shooting he became physically ill and that he was throwing up and very upset. Ferguson further stated that after the murders, Moore threatened him, telling Ferguson that if he told anyone about what had happened, he would kill Ferguson and Ferguson’s family.
“Ferguson stated that after returning the boat to the landing where Graham and Risley were waiting, he and the others then loaded the boat onto the trailer and drove the Pughs’ truck and the boat to a clearing in the woods in Franklin County. Ferguson said that he removed a pedestal-type seat from the boat and threw it inside the victims’ truck.
“The following morning, according to Ferguson, Moore came to his house and the two left together to pick up Risley. Then, Ferguson said, they went to Maxwell’s apartment where everyone, except Graham, who did not come to Maxwell’s apartment, discussed plans to rob the bank in Belmont, Mississippi. Ferguson stated that Maxwell and Risley, who, according to Ferguson, were going to be the ones to go inside the bank, left Maxwell’s apartment in Maxwell’s car, followed by him and Moore in Moore’s truck, and drove to where they had left the victims’ truck and boat. From that location, Ferguson said, Risley drove the victims’ truck to Belmont, and Maxwell drove his own car, while he and Moore followed in Moore’s truck. Maxwell stated that he and the other men then drove to a location in Belmont, near the bank, where they left Maxwell’s car. From there, Ferguson said, Maxwell and Risley drove the victims’ truck to the bank as he and Moore, who were to act as ‘covers’ while the bank was being robbed, followed in Moore’s truck. Ferguson stated that after Maxwell and Risley had committed the robbery, Maxwell drove the victims’ truck back to the location where they left Maxwell’s car, and he and Moore met them at that location. Ferguson said that they put their guns in Moore’s truck, and put the clothes they had worn in the robbery in the victims’ truck. According to Ferguson, Risley then poured gasoline on the victims’ truck and set it on fire. Ferguson stated that he and the others then returned to Maxwell’s apartment, where they divided the proceeds of the bank robbery-approximately $40,000.
“Shortly after the questioning ended and Ferguson had completed his statement, Ferguson told Investigator Frank Brians that he had something else he wanted to say. Ferguson then stated that he had lied in his earlier statement when he said that Moore was at Cane Creek and on the boat when the Pughs were murdered. Ferguson now said that Moore was not at Cane Creek and that Moore was not on the boat when the victims were shot, but that only Ferguson and Maxwell were on the boat with the victims. Ferguson, who still maintained that he was not armed while on the boat, now claimed that Maxwell shot both victims.
“Donald Risley, one of Ferguson’s codefendants, testified at Ferguson’s trial and corroborated most of Ferguson’s statement to police. Risley’s wife and Ferguson’s wife were first cousins, and Risley had been friends with Ferguson for approximately eight years. Risley testified that Ferguson had approached him and asked him if he wanted to get involved in the plan to rob banks to get some ‘easy money.’ (R. 510.) Risley stated that Moore and Maxwell were the ‘leaders of the group.’ (R. 514.) Risley, like Ferguson, testified concerning the circumstances surrounding the murders at Cane Creek and the bank robbery in Belmont. Risley testified that on the afternoon of the murders, Ferguson picked him up at a friend’s, Daryl May’s, house and that he and Ferguson then went to Maxwell’s apartment. From there, Risley said, they went to Cane Creek where they saw the victims’ truck parked at the boat landing. Risley stated that he was armed with a .357 pistol, that Maxwell had a 9mm pistol, that Graham had a Colt .45 pistol, and that Ferguson was carrying a .357 pistol. Testifying to essentially the same facts as Ferguson did concerning how they approached the Pughs and ordered them into the boat, Risley further testified that Maxwell and Ferguson got into the boat with the victims and Maxwell drove the boat downstream. Risley said that the victims were sitting in the back of the boat, while Ferguson was standing near the front and was pointing a gun at the Pughs. Risley testified that neither he nor Ferguson were threatened into robbing the Pughs and that no one threatened Ferguson to get him to get into the boat. According to Risley, when Ferguson and Maxwell returned in the boat, approximately 10 minutes after they had left, neither victim was in the boat and Ferguson was sitting on a pedestal-type seat in the front of the boat.
“Risley continued to testify to the events that occurred after the murders up until the time of the robbery of the bank in Mississippi. Risley testified to essentially the same facts as did Ferguson in his statement to police. Risley stated that Ferguson took the pedestal-type seat out of the boat and put it in the truck because, Risley said, Ferguson was afraid that he might have touched it and left his fingerprints on it. Risley also stated that while he was at Cane Creek, Ferguson never appeared to be sick or upset, and he never saw Ferguson throw up. Risley further told police that several days after the murders, Ferguson, in response to Risley’s question whether he had shot the Pughs, said that he had and further told Risley that he and Maxwell had shot them because they did not want any witnesses. Ferguson also told Risley that he shot Harold Pugh and that Maxwell shot Joey Pugh. Maxwell, who was also present during Risley’s and Ferguson’s conversation about the shooting, told Risley that Harold was not dead after the first shot, so he shot him again and he made Ferguson shoot Joey again.
“Other evidence at trial showed that the 9mm pistol police took from Moore’s house was the weapon that fired at least one of the bullets recovered from Harold Pugh’s body. The two spent shell casings found in the boat were also fired by the 9mm pistol recovered from Moore’s house. The evidence further showed that one of the bullets recovered from Harold’s body and one of the bullets recovered from Joey’s body were lead semi-wad cutter bullets that could be loaded in either a .38 or .357 pistol. Although the State’s firearms expert could not conclusively state that a .357 pistol taken from Moore’s house was the weapon that fired two of the bullets recovered from the victims’ bodies, he was able to say that the pistol was the type of pistol that could fire that particular type of bullet. The State’s firearms expert also testified that a bag of ammunition, which had been taken from Ferguson’s house and submitted to him for evaluation, contained ammunition that was capable of being fired through the .357 pistol recovered from Moore’s house.
“There was also testimony that Ferguson, Maxwell, Graham, and Moore had all worked together at a furniture distribution center in Russellville, in Franklin County, Alabama. All of the men, except Graham, quit their jobs, or failed to return to work, in the early to middle part of July 1997, just several weeks before the Pughs’ murders and the bank robbery in Belmont. Graham last reported to work on August 20, 1997. Also, Daryl May, a friend and coworker of Ferguson’s, testified that on the afternoon of the murders, Maxwell came to his house to pick up Ferguson, who was watching television there. May also testified that because Risley did not have a car, he drove him to work every morning, except the morning of July 21, the day after the murders. May said that Risley did not show up for work that morning. Testimony also showed that in late July 1997, shortly after the bank robbery in Belmont, Ferguson paid $1,750 in cash for a used car, using ‘new’ $20 bills.”
Melvin Davis was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for a double murder. According to court documents Melvin Davis was involved in a shootout with the victims and another man. The two victims were shot and killed execution style and the third man would survive his injuries. Melvin Davis would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
Melvin Davis 2022 Information
Inmate: DAVIS, MELVIN
AIS: 0000Z650
Institution: HOLMAN PRISON
Melvin Davis More News
Timothy Ray was twenty-seven years old at the time of his death. He was shot seven times, execution style, at point-blank range. John Bradley was sixty-seven years old at the time of his death and was shot three times, execution style, at point-blank range. Eugene Smith was fifty years old when he was shot execution style in the head. Miraculously, he survived and testified at trial.
Charlie Boswell, Jr., was the target of the murders as he was the informant in a drug case that was pending against Davis and his brother, Princeton Davis. Boswell, Jr., was not at the home when the shootings occurred. The roots of this case stem from an earlier drug sale case against Davis. In 1995 and 1996, Davis sold marijuana, along with his brother Princeton Davis, from his family’s apartment in Gibbs Village. The Montgomery Police Department learned of these drug sales and sent an informant, Charlie Boswell, Jr., to make controlled buys. Boswell made several buys from Princeton Davis and one buy from Davis. Based upon these buys, Davis and his brother were arrested and charged with distribution of marijuana. They were subsequently indicted on the offenses.
On Thanksgiving night, November 29, 1996, Davis met with Singleton and Jointer to go to the Top Flight Disco. The three drove to the club in Singleton’s Chevrolet Nova. They stayed in the club until closing, which was approximately 2:00 a.m. They then left the club in the same automobile, with Davis driving, Jointer in the front passenger seat, and Singleton in the rear passenger seat.
They traveled down High St. to Decatur St. and then turned right on Fairview Ave. Jointer believed that they were taking him to his home which was on Rosa Parks Ave. Instead, at the traffic light at Fairview and Interstate 65, Davis produced a .45 caliber pistol and Singleton produced a .38 caliber pistol, stating, “It’s time.” Jointer knew that they meant it was time to kill the informant. Jointer was unarmed. Davis then drove to Caffey Dr. and then turned onto Loveless Curve, stopping down the street from the house.
They then approached the house. Davis banged on the door at 3325 Loveless Curve until the home owner, Charlie Boswell, Sr., came to it. Davis then stated that he was there to see ‘Lewis.’ Boswell replied that Lewis did not live there but, inquired if he meant ‘Eugene,’ who was Eugene Smith, Mr. Boswell’s close friend and roommate. Davis stated that he did, and Mr. Boswell let all three men inside the house. Present in the house with Mr. Boswell were Timothy Ray, who was asleep on a love seat by the front door in the living room, John Bradley, who was asleep on a couch in the living room, and Eugene Smith, who was in the bedroom at the back of the house. Davis and Singleton went to the door of Mr. Smith’s bedroom and Davis asked, “Is that him?” Singleton replied in the affirmative.
At trial, Mr. Smith positively identified Davis as one of the men standing at his door. At that point, as Mr. Smith described it, the other one walked to him, placed the gun to his ear and fired. Miraculously, he survived but was seriously wounded. Jointer, who was standing in the hallway, heard the shot and was numb with fear. Davis, Singleton, and Jointer then fled the house.
As they were leaving, Davis and Singleton coldly and methodically pumped numerous rounds into Timothy Ray and John Bradley. Mr. Ray was shot seven times at point-blank range with a .45 caliber pistol and a .38 caliber pistol while Mr. Bradley was shot three times at point-blank range with .45 caliber and .38 caliber pistols. [Forty-five] caliber shell casings were found in Eugene Smith’s bedroom and in the living room near the bodies of Mr. Smith and Mr. Ray. [Thirty-eight] caliber and .45 caliber slugs were also found in the house and were recovered from the bodies of the victims. Timothy Ray and John Bradley were shot for no reason except they were in the path of the defendants as they fled. Davis told Jointer that if he ever told anyone about the shootings, he would kill him.
Melvin Davis was sentenced to death for a double murder
When Is Melvin Davis Execution
Melvin Davis execution has yet to be scheduled
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