Murder Cases Crowd Docket
By Marty Roney
Montgomery AdvertiserWETUMPKA -- A busy year for the 19th Judicial Circuit district attorney's office, in terms of the number of capital murder trials, would be two. That said, this promises to be a busy year, with seven capital cases on the horizon.
The office, which serves Autauga, Chilton an Elmore counties, will try three Elmore County cases and four Chilton County cases. It's unusual for the circuit to have one capital murder trial in a year -- seven is unheard of.
"On rare occasions we may have two capital trials, but they usually involved co-defendants in the same crime," said District Attorney Randall Houston. "We hope we can have all seven trials this year."
In 2004, only one capital murder case was tried in the circuit. In that case, Charley Washington of Montgomery was found guilty in the murders of Florence and Julian McKinnon of Millbrook. Circuit Judge John Bush followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Washington to death.
The bar is set high on murder trials, but capital cases are even more complex since they involve the possibility of a death sentence.
"If we aren't ready for some, we'll just have to wait on those. We won't go to trial until we're ready to get a conviction," Houston said.
The district attorney's office is preparing for the trial of Jason and Jarrod Murphy, two Elmore County brothers charged in the 2003 slaying of Ronnie Holman of Titus. Holman was gunned down in his yard when he went to investigate why the family dogs were barking. The Murphy brothers will be tried separately.
Also in Elmore County, Chris Hawes will be tried for the 2003 death of Evelyn McNeil of Tallassee, a well-known retired teacher who was found dead in her home. Police believe robbery was the motive.
In Chilton County, four teenagers were charged with capital murder in the 2004 death of George Mimes. Mimes, 80, received a shotgun blast to the face when the teens were robbing his home. He died about six weeks later.
Those facing the death penalty are Jesse O. Dennis, 20; John M. Gelatin, 18; James Bozeman, 18; and Jonathan Mix, 15. Mix will be tried as an adult, courthouse record show.
None of the cases has had trial dates set. Houston hopes the trials can begin by late spring or early summer.
Aubrey Edwards has been watching criminal cases in his native Elmore County for quite a while.
"We've had some big cases up here, bad cases you could say," the 69-year-old said. "I don't recall a time when we had three capital murder cases in one year. Shoot, it's unusual for Elmore County to have a capital murder case period, much less three in one year."
So, what does the busy schedule mean for the lawyers in the district attorney's office?
"We've got a lot of hard work ahead of us," Houston said. "We aren't going to stop trying all other cases because we have seven capital cases pending. We have to handle everything that comes our way."
