alabama | My Crime Library

Ronnie Kirksey Alabama Death Row

Ronnie Kirksey was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for the murder of a twenty three month old child. According to court documents Ronnie Kirksey would beat to death 23 month old Cornell Norwood. Ronnie Kirksey would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Alabama Death Row Inmate List

Ronnie Kirksey 2021 Information

Inmate:	KIRKSEY, RONNIE LYNN
AIS:	0000z769

Institution:	HOLMAN DEATH ROW

Ronnie Kirksey More News

A jury convicted Ronnie Lynn Kirksey of capital murder late Thursday in the 2006 death of his girlfriend’s son, 23-month-old Cornell Norwood.
Jurors deliberated about two hours before reaching the verdict in the trial, which began two weeks ago.
Circuit Court Judge David Kimberley ordered jurors to return at 9 a.m. today to begin the sentencing phase of the trial.
Jurors will be presented evidence and make a recommendation that Kirksey be sentenced to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kimberley will consider their recommendation as he imposes Kirksey’s official sentencing.
In closing arguments Thursday morning, Deputy District Attorney Carol Griffith told jurors that April 15, 2006, started out like a normal Saturday for Yolanda Norris and her family at her Colley Homes apartment on Sixth Street.
“She found her baby laying on the cold floor in a puddle of blood, struggling to breathe,” Griffith said. ”(Kirksey) offered no apologies, no excuses.“
Paramedics from the Gadsden Fire Department responded to the 911 call and continued CPR.
Cornell was rushed to Gadsden Regional Medical Center and soon flown to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, where he died.
An investigation already was under way because the nature of the child’s injuries were suspicious.
The following morning, Norris was questioned at the police department, and her statement matched that of one of her other children, Griffith said.
Detectives then talked to Kirksey, looking for answers to the cause of the child’s severe injuries.
Kirksey said the child had a “far-off look in his eyes, and I cleaned the blood off his mouth. I thought he was OK,” Griffith recounted for jurors.
Through the course of several statements to police, Kirksey’s story changed several times as he explained the injuries.
Teri Farris, a Gadsden police detective at the time of the child’s death, testified about Kirksey’s statements in which he said he hit the child and later kicked him.
Then Kirksey — almost 6 feet tall and about 210 pounds at the time — said he put a foot on Cornell and stood on him with all his weight, “until his little hands started to curl and blood came out of his ears and nose.“
In one statement, he told detectives he had consumed eight beers on an empty stomach.
“It’s like I was somebody else.“
In his testimony Wednesday during the trial, Kirksey told jurors he fell on Cornell that day and the fall, along with CPR, caused the injuries.
The child had a linear skull fracture from one side of his head to the other, Griffith said.
“It is undisputed the skull fracture was the fatal injury,” Griffith said.
The child also had traumatic injuries to his stomach, heart, lungs and diaphragm, and the aorta — the main artery through his body — was torn.
“He was freely bleeding into the abdominal cavity,” Griffith said, recalling testimony from the state medical examiner.
“He testified that in 25 years he had never seen that kind of injury by accident,” she told jurors.
Kirksey’s testimony about the fall was the first time Griffith said she and others in the courtroom had heard that version of what happened.
“What he wants you to believe now is the statements to law enforcement aren’t true. That only bits and pieces are true,” she said. “He said he didn’t realize what he wrote in the statements wasn’t true.“
In those statements to police, Kirksey also told detectives, “I can’t stop seeing his face. I loved him like my very own child. I’m asking you to send me to where he is as quick as you can.“
Griffith said Kirksey said in testimony he thought he was confessing to falling on the child on the apartment’s concrete floor.
“He’d have you believe it’s a twisted scheme by this police officer,” to come up with the story about what happened to Cornell, Griffith said.
But Griffith asked jurors to remember Farris’ testimony.
“You saw the emotion,” Griffith said. “You saw the professionalism. She looked you in the eyes and told you what he said he did to that beautiful baby.”
“Did he look you in the eyes?” she asked jurors. “Put all these facts together. Do any of you believe a grown man will stand on a child and not intend to kill him? The fact that a person might regret it later has nothing to do with it.“
Chief Deputy District Attorney Marcus Reid referred to “a twilight zone case,” when talking about Kirksey’s testimony.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Vince Pentecost gave a detailed outline of the hours and days following Cornell’s death and talked about the progression of the statements Kirksey gave to detectives in the 72 hours he was placed on hold in the Etowah County jail.
Pentecost questioned why the interviews were done without video or audio recordings.
“It’s easier to go on officer credibility than have a video of the interview,” he said.
Defense attorney Paul Roberts referenced Reid’s comments in opening statements about being a fly on the wall the day Cornell was injured.
“I would rather have been carpet on the floor. It might have saved that child’s life,” he said. “I would like to have been a fly on the wall during those statements.”

https://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/DA/20100218/Entertainment/603228670/GT

Jesse Scheuing Alabama Death Row

Jesse Scheuing was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for a robbery murder. According to court documents Jesse Scheuing would shoot and kill Sean Adam Cook during a convenience store robbery. Jesse Scheuing would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Alabama Death Row Inmate List

Jesse Scheuing 2021 Information

Inmate:	SCHEUING, JESSE EARL
AIS:	0000Z772

Institution:	HOLMAN DEATH ROW

Jesse Scheuing More News

A jury in Anniston that found Jesse Earl Scheuing guilty of capital murder and theft of property is scheduled to hear the penalty phase of the case.

The jury convicted the 24-year-old from Waycross, Ga., on Friday, concluding a week-long trial after 9 minutes of deliberation.

Scheuing had been accused of the shooting death of Oxford, Ala. convenience store clerk Sean Adam Cook during a robbery in November 2008.

Jurors will hear further arguments from the state and Scheuing’s lawyers on Monday before recommending a sentence. Capital murder carries the possible sentences of death or life in prison without parole.

Two others charged with capital murder in Cook’s death, Weaver residents James Potts and Tiffany Kulp, face trial later this year.

https://www.al.com/wire/2010/09/anniston_jury_considers_penalt.html

Michael Kelley Alabama Death Row

Michael Kelley was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for the sexual assault, torture and murder of Emily Milling. According to court documents Michael Kelley was seen leaving a bar with Emily Milling. The woman was not seen alive again. Autopsy results would point to a sexual assault, torture and murder of the young woman. Michael Kelley would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Alabama Death Row Inmate List

Michael Kelley 2021 Information

Inmate:	KELLEY, MICHAEL BRANDON
AIS:	0000Z773

Institution:	HOLMAN DEATH ROW

Michael Kelley More News

On Nov. 15, 2008, 23-year-old Emily Milling of Moody disappeared, and was never heard from again. Her bruised, battered body was found off of Marqueeta Road days after her life ended.

Last week, a St. Clair County jury found Michael Brandon Kelley, 29, guilty of her murder.

After 45 minutes of deliberation, the jury came back with unanimous guilty verdicts for three charges — capitol murder, capitol murder during sexual abuse, and sexual torture, and later, the recommendation that Kelley should be sentenced to death for his crimes.

A host of individuals involved with the case offered testimonies throughout the week to give the jury a clearer picture of what happened on Nov. 14 and 15, leading up to Milling’s disappearance. While the facts of the case had been previously known to both sides, Kelley gave his newest account of the events.

Kelley testified that he went to visit his children, now ages 10 and 3, on Nov. 14, 2008. His visit concluded by 11 a.m., and he started consuming alcohol. Kelley testified that he drank between 44 and 48 beers over the next 15 hours. During that time he was seen leaving the Central Club with Milling by several witnesses and was also seen leaving on a security tape played during the trial.

Kelley said that after riding around with some friends and later dropping them off at Trail’s End Trailer Park, he made a few more stops at friends’ houses before arriving at the Central Club in Leeds after 1 a.m.

He said that within five minutes of his arrival, Kelley saw a friend of his, and later was approached by Milling. She had dated a friend of Kelley’s, and he estimated he’d known her for 10 years prior to the day of her disappearance.

Kelley and Milling left the club, he said, to show Milling where her former boyfriend currently lived.

“We drove up, and no one was there. The lights were off,” Kelley testified. “I didn’t get out of the car, and we left to go back to the Central Club.”

On the way, Kelley said they met up with two men, identified as Salvador and Daniel, with whom he worked at C & B Piping in Leeds during a two-and-a-half week tenure in September. The men followed Kelley and Milling back to Kelley’s trailer to “party.”

After consuming between 1.5 and 2 grams of cocaine that Salvador and Daniel had, Kelley said he left to get more cocaine. When he was unable to find any cocaine in Moody, he returned to the trailer to tell his guests he was going to try to get cocaine in Birmingham. He testified that Milling and Salvador were on the front steps smoking when he arrived, and neither objected to his leaving.

“I did eventually find some cocaine,” Kelley said, noting that he purchased one-half ounce of cocaine for $500 in Birmingham. “I went back to the trailer, and no one was there. I walked in and passed out on the bed. … Salvador and Daniel’s car was not there.”

He said he slept until 5:30 a.m., when he received a phone call asking about Milling’s whereabouts.

“After a few minutes, I noticed something in the hallway, someone laying there,” Kelley said. “I walked over, and noticed a blue sleeping bag over someone. It was Emily.”

Kelley said he then left for Oak Trail Apartments in Leeds, where he said Salvador and Daniel lived. He said he a conversation with Salvador and Daniel, he returned to the trailer and walked around outside to decide what to do next. Kelley attempted to put Milling’s clothes back on, then picked up her body and started to carry her body to his truck.

“When I got to the front door, she slipped out of my arms,” Kelley told the jury. “I picked her back up and put her in the black of my Blazer.”

He said he discarded her body off of Marqueeta Spur Road shortly after 5:30 a.m. Nov. 16. He said he then collected and discarded Milling’s clothes, his own clothes, and some other garbage in a dumpster at his father’s business.

He said he returned home, started consuming the cocaine purchased hours before, and then slept until 3:30 p.m. When a police officer showed up at his door, Kelley said he called the Moody Police Department to report that the officer was making threats to him.

Kelley said he then went to his parents’ house to see his children before leaving Saturday evening for California for his job as a truck driver, where he was later detained on an unrelated charge.

Prosecution was quick to show inconsistencies between Kelley’s story and the other testimonies provided, as well as the timeliness with which the story was revealed.

“I never told anyone this story, because I was scared for what would happen to my family,” Kelley said in court. “I was scared that my children and my parents would get killed. I was scared I would get blamed for it.”

After his alleged side of the night of Nov. 14-15 was told, he was asked by St. Clair District Attorney Richard Minor and Assistant D.A. Carol Boone to explain inconsistencies in his story. He admitted to lying to Det. Renee Reaves of the Leeds Police Dept. about dropping Milling back off at the Central Club.

“He’s had 19 months, a little over 630 days [in jail] and he comes up with this story Tuesday afternoon that he’s never told anyone,” said District Attorney Richard Minor during his closing argument. “He had a number of opportunities, had it been true, to tell it to law enforcement. He even called the Moody Police Department, knowing there was a dead body in his trailer. It makes absolutely no sense.”

Throughout the trial, Kelley maintained his innocence.

“I didn’t kill her,” he told the jury. “If I had killed her, I would have cleaned up the blood.”

Sobs abounded from both sides of the courtroom when the jury returned with their verdict of guilty on all three counts.

Family members and friends later took the stand to share what a kind, courteous and generous young man Kelley is. But after another 45 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned with a 10-2 vote favoring the death penalty.

“They’re murderers, too,” Kelley’s mother, Allison, sobbed in the empty courtroom, after the recommendation was made. “They’re doing exactly what they accused him of doing.”

https://www.newsaegis.com/news/jury-guilty-of-torture-murder/article_fbc188e4-40ef-5728-8ef4-940a99c248e9.html

Ryan Russell Alabama Death Row

Ryan Russell was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for the murder of an eleven year old girl. According to court documents Ryan Russell would shoot eleven year old Katherine Helen Gillespie in the back of the head causing her death. Ryan Russell would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Alabama Death Row Inmate List

Ryan Russell 2021 Information

Inmate:	RUSSELL, RYAN GERALD
AIS:	0000Z774

Institution:	HOLMAN DEATH ROW

Ryan Russell More News

The State’s evidence tended to show that on June 16, 2008, at around 9:00 p.m., Shelby County sheriff deputies were dispatched to Russell’s house in response to a 911 emergency call. Deputies Melvin Janisek, Jay Fondren, and Paul George entered the home through an entry door near the garage. Deputy Janisek and Deputy Fondren proceeded upstairs, and Deputy George checked the vehicles in the garage. One of the vehicles, a Cadillac Escalade sport-utility vehicle, had been involved in an vehicular accident earlier that day. Deputy George testified that he discovered Katherine’s body in the backseat of the Escalade, that her body had been partially stuffed into a garbage can, that her body was visible only from the waist down, and that she was covered in bloody towels and clothes. (R. 1155.) The State’s medical examiner, Dr. Adel Shaker, testified that Katherine died as a result of a gunshot wound to her head, that the wound was a “contact wound,” meaning that there was no distance between the gun and her head when the fatal shot had been fired, and that the bullet caused Katherine’s skull to “blow[ ] up.” (R. 1444–46.)

Police searched the house and discovered Russell lying in a fetal position on the floor of the bathroom shower. The water was running, and Russell was wearing only a pair of black shorts. (R. 1133.) “[L]ittle oblong pills [were lying] laying on the ground in the shower with [Russell].” (R. 1133.) The washing machine, near the Escalade, was filled with bloody water. There were “a number of clothes and cell phones” in the water and a .40 caliber shell casing. This casing was later determined to have been fired from a .40–caliber Glock brand semi-automatic pistol belonging to Russell. This weapon was discovered on the garage floor under a sofa several weeks after the shooting when Russell’s family was cleaning the house.

Andrew Stone testified that around 6:00 p.m. on June 16, 2008, he, Robert “Bo” Montiel, and Andrew’s 14–year–old sister, Mallie Stone, were traveling in a truck on Inverness Parkway. Andrew slowed his vehicle to allow an oncoming car to pass his truck, and his truck was hit from behind by a Cadillac Escalade. (R. 995.) After the collision, the Escalade sped off and the boys followed the car to Russell’s address—5048 Carrie Downs Road. Stone and Montiel got out of their vehicle and approached the driver’s side of the Escalade. Montiel testified that the back door of the Escalade opened, that Katherine got out of the car, that she was crying, and that Katherine begged them: “ ‘Please don’t call the police on my daddy. He didn’t mean to do anything wrong.’ “ (R. 999.) Stone told Katherine that police had to be called because it was a “hit and run” accident. (R. 1023.) Stone and Montiel tried to talk to Russell through the car window but Russell refused to say anything to them. Both Montiel and Stone testified that Russell showed no emotion.

While the boys attempted to speak with Russell, Katherine walked to the street and rolled a trash can down the driveway and placed it next to the house. Montiel stated that Katherine then entered a back door leading into the garage.³ When Katherine went inside the garage, the garage door opened and Russell backed the Escalade into the garage and lowered the garage door.

Stone said that after the garage door closed, he telephoned his parents, and his parents arrived at Russell’s residence within “seven or eight” minutes. (R. 1012.) His parents had telephoned the police en route to Russell’s house and the police arrived at Russell’s shortly after his parents. Police arrived at Russell’s home at approximately 6:30 p.m. They knocked on Russell’s door, but Russell would not answer. Ultimately, the police informed the Stones that because no one had been injured in the accident and no one would answer the door—there was nothing they could do at that time. After about 20 or 30 minutes, everybody left Russell’s residence.

Emily Webber testified that she was Russell’s former girlfriend and that she had lived with Russell on and off for years. She testified that Russell drank too much and that she left him in November 2006 but returned in July 2007 when she learned that Katherine was moving to Birmingham to live with Russell. Because of Russell’s drinking, Webber said, she moved out again in January 2008. Webber also testified that Russell had inherited several guns from his father and that he kept them locked up in the basement.

Webber further testified that on June 16, 2008, at approximately 4:30 p.m. she received a telephone call from Susanna Russell, Russell’s sister. Susanna told her that she had been trying to reach Russell all day to inform him that their grandfather was about to the and that she needed Russell “to take care of some family matters and to make arrangements for their grandfather” but that she had been unable to contact Russell. (R. 1049.) Because Susanna lived in Panama City, Florida, she asked Webber to go to Russell’s house to inform him about their grandfather. Webber went to Russell’s home, but no one answered the door.

At approximately 8:00 p.m. that same evening, Webber spoke with Carlyn Russell, Russell’s stepmother. Carlyn told her that Russell’s grandfather had died, and she asked Webber to go to Russell’s house and inform him of his grandfather’s death. At around 8:30 p.m. Webber and a friend, Nick Barnes, returned to Russell’s house. Webber said that as she walked down the driveway, she saw “flickering from a television in the master bedroom.” (R. 1100.) She looked through a window on the garage door and she saw “the shadow of a person with [Russell’s] stature in between [two] vehicles” parked inside the garage. (R. 1054.) Webber began beating on the garage door but was unable to get Russell to respond. Webber informed Carlyn, and Carlyn asked Webber to try to get into the house. Webber testified that she entered the house through an unlocked door near the garage, that she looked inside the Escalade and saw that the two front air bags had deployed, and that she became very concerned for Katherine’s safety. (R. 1063.) Webber left the house, and she and Barnes telephoned emergency 911 which ultimately lead to the discovery of Katherine’s body inside the Escalade.

Experts testified that when the fatal shot was fired the gun was in direct contact with the right side of Katherine’s head causing a “stellate, or star shaped, entrance wound.” The bullet caused “extensive intracerebral hemorrhages and subarachnoid hemorrhages” by “pulverizing and contusing the whole right and left side hemisphere of the brain and the brain stem fracturing the cranial cavity completely, the vault of the cranial cavity and the base of the skull.” (R. 1445.) Katherine died instantly. Fragments of the bullet removed from Katherine were “consistent with a .40 caliber class bullet jacket.” (R. 1375–76.)

A blood-splatter expert, Angelo Della Manna, testified that based on his examination of the crime scene it was his opinion that Katherine had been shot in the laundry room while she was “crouching” in a 12–inch–wide space between the clothes dryer and a wall.⁴ Using a doll approximating Katherine’s size and height, Della Manna showed the jury the position Katherine was in when she was shot. Della Manna further testified that, based on the configuration of bloodstains in the laundry room, at the time of the shooting Katherine’s head had been between 18 and 36 inches above the floor. At a height of 36 inches from the floor, Katherine’s head would have been lower than the top of the dryer.

The jury convicted Russell of capital murder. A separate sentencing hearing was held. The jury unanimously recommended that Russell be sentenced to death. The circuit court followed the jury’s recommendation.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1702665.html

Michael Woolf Alabama Death Row

Michael Woolf was sentenced to death and remains on Alabama Death Row for the murders of his wife and young son. According to court documents Michael Woolf would shoot and kill Angel Marie Woolf, and their two-year-old son Charles Ayden Woolf. Michael Woolf would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Alabama Death Row Inmate List

Michael Woolf 2021 Information

Inmate:	WOOLF, MICHAEL BRAGG
AIS:	0000z775

Institution:	HOLMAN DEATH ROW

Michael Woolf More News

On February 15, 2008, Woolf went to Resultz Corp. in Mobile with his wife Angel, their two-year-old son Ayden, and Woolf’s mother, Lynn Tullos. Woolf and Angel had what witnesses described as a turbulent relationship, and, because Woolf had begun to doubt that he was Ayden’s biological father, Woolf and Angel went to Resultz Corp., “a biomedical testing laboratory” that performed drug screenings and “DNA collections and testing,” for a paternity test to determine whether Woolf was Ayden’s biological father. Woolf seemed stressed about the results of the test and said “that other people were saying [Ayden] [might] not be his.” After completing the test, Woolf asked an employee of Resultz Corp. to pray for him.

After he received the results, Woolf returned to Resultz Corp. with Ayden on March 3, 2008. Woolf told a Resultz Corp. employee that he needed to have the results of the test “explain[ed] to him because he was a little confused about [them].”¹ The employee explained the results to Woolf who said “he was just worried about” what other people were saying regarding Ayden’s paternity. As Woolf left Resultz Corp., he asked the owner whether she believed in God and asked her to pray for him.

Shortly after midnight on the morning of March 5, 2008, Woolf called the Mobile County emergency 911 number and reported that he had killed his family and needed to go to jail. Paramedics with the Mobile Fire Department and officers with the Mobile Police Department were dispatched to Woolf’s mobile home.

At 1:05 a.m., Jonathan Parker and Coye Lucky, paramedics with the Mobile Fire Department, were parked in a rescue truck at a Circle K store located at the corner of Schillingers Road and Moffett Road waiting to be told when they could safely enter Woolf’s mobile home. Woolf, after parking his car in front of the rescue truck at the Circle K, got out of his car and approached the rescue truck. Parker got out of the truck and walked toward Woolf, who said, “You need to call the cops.” When Parker asked him if he had shot his family, Woolf “said that [his] son came into the room and said pow-pow and then [he] heard two gunshots, [he] blacked out and [he] left.” Woolf started to leave, but the paramedics told him not to.

Officer Shannon Payne of the Mobile Police Department, who was responding to the call to Woolf’s mobile home, stopped at the Circle K when she saw the paramedics. As Officer Payne got out of her patrol car, Woolf approached her with “his hands ․ facing out ․ with his palms facing almost as if they were going to be in a handcuffed position.” Woolf said, “I poisoned my wife and put me in handcuffs.” As Officer Payne was placing Woolf inside her patrol car he said, “I heard two noises pow-pow, then I blacked out.” (R. 1373.)

Corporal Brian Reeher of the Mobile Police Department arrived at the Circle K, and he and Officer Payne transferred Woolf to Cpl. Reeher’s patrol car.² As Cpl. Reeher placed Woolf in his patrol car, Woolf said, “My wife poisoned me.” Cpl. Reeher also heard Woolf say that Woolf’s “wife made me do it.” Officer Payne later checked on Woolf who said, “I may have actually done it.” Officer Payne asked Woolf what he may have actually done, and he said, “I might have gotten a gun.”

Angela Prine, an investigator with the Mobile Police Department, arrived at the Circle K store and got in the back-seat of Cpl. Reeher’s patrol car with Woolf. Prine read Woolf his Miranda³ rights and briefly interviewed him to get personal information about Angel and Ayden.

Mobile police officers went to Woolf’s mobile home, where they found the bodies of Angel and Ayden; both Angel and Ayden had been shot. The officers also located a “sock print impression that was in blood” and several bloody shoe impressions. On the living-room floor officers found a .38 caliber revolver that held two spent casings and one cartridge.

Officers transported Woolf to the Mobile Police Department headquarters and placed him in an interview room. Officer Payne checked on Woolf, who was alternating between pacing and lying on the floor. Woolf said, “I’m a fucking dumb ass.” He also said, “Shoot me, just shoot me.” (R. 1415.) When Officer Payne asked why he should shoot him, Woolf said, “because I’m guilty.” (R. 1415.) Investigator Prine arrived at police headquarters and again advised Woolf of his Miranda rights. Woolf did not sign the waiver-of-rights form, but he did speak with Prine and Cpl. Jeremy March.

Following his conversation with Prine and Cpl. March, Woolf was placed under arrest. As he got undressed to change into a white jail jumpsuit, Woolf pulled off a sock that appeared bloody, “kind of wadded it and touched it to his mouth and kissed it and said, ‘oh, my baby.” ’

An autopsy revealed that the cause of Angel’s death was a “gunshot wound to the face.” The autopsy performed on Ayden revealed that he also “died as a result of a gunshot wound to the face.” (R. 1717.)

Woolf called several witnesses to testify during the guilt phase of the trial. Two friends testified about seeing Woolf, Angel, and Ayden interact with each other. A lieutenant with the Mobile Police Department testified that he saw no evidence indicating that Angel and Ayden received any medical assistance on the night of the shooting. Woolf called Lucky, who testified about the events that occurred in the Circle K parking lot and stated that neither he nor Parker entered the mobile home that morning.

Woolf called three Mobile police officers, two of whom told the jury about the actions law-enforcement personnel had taken as they approached, entered, and searched Woolf’s mobile home on the morning of March 5, 2008. The third officer testified about securing Woolf’s car at the Circle K store and assisting in a search of that car.

Three of Woolf’s neighbors testified on his behalf. One neighbor testified about her interaction with the officers on the morning of March 5, 2008, and stated that after the officers left the trailer park she noticed that skirting had been removed from around the base of her trailer. Another neighbor testified that Woolf, Angel, and Ayden “seemed like a really happy family.” The last neighbor testified about her interactions with the Woolf family.

Woolf testified in his own behalf. He told the jury that he “knew Ayden was [his but he] just wanted the paper [with the DNA test results].” Woolf further said that he did not understand the DNA results and decided to go back to Resultz Corp. to have the results explained to him.

Woolf also testified that he and a friend went riding around on March 4, 2008. When he returned home, he said, Angel confronted him about him having been away from home. He left again, this time by himself. While riding around, Woolf said, he smoked marijuana, “took two Darvocets and drank five or six beers.” When he returned home, he took the gun inside the mobile home with him. Angel confronted him and grabbed his arm. Woolf said he pulled away from Angel and shot the gun behind him to scare her. Angel “screamed and said, ‘You shot Ayden.” ’ (R.1902.) After Woolf saw that Ayden had been shot, he shot Angel. Woolf called emergency 911 and left the mobile home, stopping when he saw the emergency responders at the Circle K store.

Woolf presented a psychologist who testified about his evaluation of Woolf and Woolf’s interactions with law enforcement after the shooting.

The circuit court charged the jury, and the jury returned a guilty verdict on both counts of the indictment. At the conclusion of the penalty phase of the trial, the jury recommended the death sentence by an 11–1 vote. Following the sentencing hearing, the circuit court sentenced Woolf to death.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1665532.html