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Thread: Peter Capote - Alabama Death Row

  1. #31
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    Cellmate testifies that Hubbard told him he planned the shooting

    By Tom Smith
    The Times-Daily

    TUSCUMBIA — A man who was in the same Colbert County Jail cell with Thomas Hubbard said Friday that Hubbard told him step by step how Ki-Jana Freeman was set up and killed.

    “(Hubbard) said (De’Vontae) Bates contacted KJ on Facebook, said he wanted to buy some drugs,” Shawn Settles said Friday during Hubbard’s capital murder trial. “(Hubbard) said it was a setup to kill KJ. He said he couldn’t let him get away with stealing from him.”

    Hubbard, 33, 1100 Midland Ave., Muscle Shoals is accused of being the person who planned and orchestrated the shooting death of Freeman after someone broke into his residence.

    Freeman and a friend, Tyler Blythe, 19, of Tuscumbia, who was 17 at the time, were both shot March 1, 2016, while sitting inside Freeman’s blue Ford Mustang.

    Freeman died at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, while Blythe was flown to Huntsville Hospital. He testified Friday in the trial.

    Settles said his attorney had reached an agreement with the district attorney’s office to reduce his sentence for his testimony in the case.

    Settles testified that he befriended Hubbard and Hubbard confided in him while they were cellmates.

    He said Hubbard admitted he was in the truck with Peter Capote, Benjamin Young and Trey Hamm when the shooting took place in the parking lot of Spring Creek Apartments.

    “He said Capote and Young got out and did the shooting,” Settles said.

    He said Hubbard told him “they got out, walked towards the car and unloaded on it.”

    Defense attorney David Bradley, who along with Jamy Poss and Charlton Pope represent Hubbard, asked Settles how he knew Hubbard was telling the truth.

    “I believed him. He told me what happened. I believed he killed that boy,” Settles said.

    The trial continues Monday at 9 a.m. in Colbert County Circuit Judge Jackie Hatcher’s courtroom.

    http://www.timesdaily.com/news/crime...7f5d79a17.html

  2. #32
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    Bates: I lured Freeman to lot

    By Tom Smith
    The Times-Daily

    TUSCUMBIA — A Muscle Shoals man said he knew the motive behind luring Ki-Jana Freeman to Spring Creek Apartments on March 1, 2016.

    De’Vante Bates testified Monday he contacted Freeman on Facebook messenger telling him he wanted to buy 11 hits of acid (LSD). He said he knew when he lured Freeman to the apartment complex in Tuscumbia that “they were going to kill him.”

    He said Freeman was targeted after someone saw a Xbox he had for sale on Facebook, and it looked like the same one stolen from the home of Thomas Hubbard on Feb. 28, 2016, while Hubbard and family members were at his grandmother’s funeral.

    Bates testified Hubbard, who was the leader of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters, was angry about the burglary. He said Hubbard told gang members he was going to find out who broke into the house and "kill them."

    Bates's testimony came during the third day of Hubbard’s capital murder trial.

    Hubbard, 33, 1100 Midland Ave., Muscle Shoals, is accused of being the person who planned and orchestrated the shooting death of Freeman.

    Freeman and a friend, Tyler Blythe, 19, Tuscumbia, who was 17 at the time, were both shot March 1, 2016, while sitting inside Freeman’s blue Ford Mustang.

    Freeman died at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, while Blythe was flown to Huntsville Hospital.

    Bates testified he has pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy and is being held in the Morgan County Jail awaiting sentencing.

    Peter Capote, 24, 1100 Midland Ave., Muscle Shoals, Benjamin Young, 30, 502 Staunton Ave., Florence, and Riley Hamm III, 30, 2220 W. 17th St., Sheffield, who were all involved in the gang with Hubbard, have been charged with capital murder in connection with Freeman’s death.

    Capote and Young have been found guilty of capital murder and have been sentenced to death. Hamm’s trial has not been scheduled.

    Bates testified he was a member of the gang, along with Austin Hammonds, who knew Freeman and saw the post on Facebook about having the Xbox for sale.

    He said he was sending messages to Freeman while sitting in Hubbard’s living room.

    Bates testified after he contacted Freeman, and Freeman was on his way to the apartment complex, Young, Capote, Hubbard and Hamm got into a white truck and left Hubbard’s residence, heading to Spring Creek Apartments.

    During cross examination, Hubbard’s defense attorneys — Jamy Poss, David Bradley and Charlton Pope — tried to discredit Bates.

    The jury spent most of the day listening and watching two videos of Bates speaking to law enforcement.

    On the first video, Bates said why he was at the apartment complex, and he said he had no idea who was involved in the shooting.

    In the second video Bates changed his story and was telling police how Freeman was lured to the parking lot and shot, and who was involved.

    The trial continues at 9 a.m. today in Colbert County Circuit Judge Jackie Hatcher’s courtroom.

    http://www.timesdaily.com/news/crime...496c64c61.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #33
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    Defense attorney accuses witness of lying about Freeman

    By Tom Smith
    The Times-Daily

    TUSCUMBIA — A Sheffield man admitted Tuesday that he and another member of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters brought up Ki-Jana Freeman’s name as a suspect in the burglary of the head of the gang’s house.

    “KJ was your friend, the guy you worked with?” defense attorney Jamy Poss asked Austin Hammonds during cross-examination. “You told the others that KJ was the one who broke into the house and stole the Xbox. His death is your fault.”

    “I didn’t shoot him,” Hammonds said.

    “You were supposed to go look at the Xbox to see if it was the one stolen. You didn’t,” Poss said. “(KJ) send you a picture of the Xbox he had for sale. You knew that was not your Xbox.

    “How did you choose KJ to die?”

    “He had the Xbox I thought was mine (that got stolen),” Hammonds said.

    “Or were you mad over a (drug deal) with him that was supposed to happen two days before?” Poss asked.

    “I only bought drugs from him once. I was mad about my Xbox being stolen,” Hammonds said.

    “Freeman was killed because you said it was your Xbox. You set him up,” Poss said.

    “I didn’t shoot him, I didn’t set him up,” Hammonds said.

    Hammonds’ testimony came Tuesday during the fourth day of Thomas Hubbard’s capital murder trial.

    Hubbard, 33, 1100 Midland Ave., Muscle Shoals, is accused of being the person who planned and orchestrated the shooting death of Freeman.

    Freeman and a friend, Tyler Blythe, 19, Tuscumbia, who was 17 at the time, were both shot March 1, 2016, while sitting inside Freeman’s blue Ford Mustang.

    Freeman died at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, while Blythe was flown to Huntsville Hospital.

    Authorities said Hubbard was upset over his residence being broken into and someone taking a television, money and computer game systems, one of which belonged to Hammonds who had left it at Hubbard’s residence.

    During Tuesday’s cross-examination, Poss continued to paint a picture that it was Hammonds who put the plan in motion that resulted in Freeman's death.

    “(The gang) wouldn’t have known KJ if you hadn’t told him it was your Xbox,” he said. “KJ didn’t break into Hubbard’s house. He died because you lied.”

    Hammonds said he had nothing to do with setting Freeman up, and he left Hubbard’s house before that happened and went to work in Florence.

    “You knew what was going to happen (to him), no doubt in your mind. You knew they were going to set up him when you left,” Poss said.

    The trial continues at 9 a.m. today in Colbert County Circuit Judge Jackie Hatcher’s courtroom.

    http://www.timesdaily.com/news/crime...9a87b3b3a.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #34
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    Cellmate directed lawmen to weapon

    By Tom Smith
    Times Daily

    TUSCUMBIA — An investigator said officials found a SKS rifle hidden in a remote area of Franklin County using directions authorities got from Thomas Hubbard’s cellmate.

    Jonathan Harkins, an investigator with the Colbert County Sheriff’s Department, testified Wednesday the information obtain from the cellmate led authorities right to the rifle police believe was used in the shooting death of Ki-Jana Freeman.

    Hankins testified during the capital murder trial of Hubbard, 33, 1100 Midland Ave., Muscle Shoals.

    Hubbard is accused of being the person who planned the shooting death of Freeman as retaliation after someone broke into his residence.

    Freeman and a friend, Tyler Blythe, 19, Tuscumbia, who was 17 at the time, were both shot March 1, 2016, while sitting inside Freeman’s blue Ford Mustang.

    Freeman died at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, while Blythe was flown to Huntsville Hospital.

    Last week, cellmate Shawn Settles testified that Hubbard told him all of the details of the shooting, as well as gave him information as to where the gun had been hidden.

    Settles turned the information over to authorities in an effort to help himself with his court hearing.Settles testified Hubbard said he and Peter Capote, who has been convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for his involvement in the shooting, took the gun to a remote area north of Cedar Lake in Franklin County on property his family used to own, and hid the gun.

    “We were given directions to climb over one gate, go through a second gate, and then follow a path into the woods until we saw some pine cones that were out of place,” Harkins said.

    Officers found three pine cones at the base of a hardwood tree that doesn’t produce pine cones.

    “We were to go about 10 feet past that, and then look to our right for a clearing and for a burial site,” Harkins testified.

    He said they found the site. A metal detector indicated something was in the shallow grave.

    “We dug it up and found a black plastic bag with the rifle in it,” Harkins said.

    During the trial, prosecutors have put on witnesses who stated Hubbard owned a SKS rifle.

    Also Wednesday, forensics experts testified that the shell casings found in the parking lot of Spring Creek Apartments where the shooting took place came from the SKS rifle that police recovered.

    The trial continues today in Judge Jackie Hatcher’s courtroom. Closing arguments are expected to take place sometime today.

    http://www.timesdaily.com/news/crime...403a6d471.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #35
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    Hubbard found guilty of capital murder

    By Tom Smith
    Times Daily

    TUSCUMBIA — For the first time during the week-long trial, Thomas Hubbard showed emotion Thursday when a Colbert County jury found him guilty of capital murder.

    Hubbard, who wiped away tears, will find out today whether he will be put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Colbert County Circuit Judge Jackie Hatcher said the sentencing phase of Hubbard’s trial will begin at 9 a.m.

    The jury deliberated just over an hour Thursday before reaching their decision.

    Hubbard, 33, 1100 Midland Ave., Muscle Shoals, was found guilty of capital murder and first-degree assault. He is accused of planning the shooting death of Ki-Jane Freeman, 19, of Tuscumbia, as retaliation after someone broke into his residence.

    Freeman and a friend, Tyler Blythe, 19, Tuscumbia, who was 17 at the time, were both shot March 1, 2016, while sitting inside Freeman’s blue Ford Mustang.

    The shooting took place around 11 p.m. in the parking lot of Spring Creek Apartments in Tuscumbia.

    Freeman died at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield. Blythe continues to recover from his injuries.

    “(Thomas Hubbard) caused the death of Ki-Jana Freeman through or by the use of a deadly weapon. This makes him accountable for the behavior of another,” Assistant District Attorney Angela Hulsey said during her closing remarks. “He helped facilitate it, he encouraged it, helped others commit the crime.

    “Under the law he is accountable for the behavior of those others.”

    Peter Capote and Benjamin Young, two members of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters, which Hubbard was said to lead, were identified as the ones who shot Freeman and have both been found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death.

    “(Hubbard) gave the order for Freeman to be murdered. He provided the SKS rifle. He gave them black plastic bags to put their clothes in and he went and hid the rifle,” Hulsey said. “Tommy 'Imperial' Hubbard gave the order to kill KJ and it was carried out. Thomas Hubbard made the decision to kill KJ, no one else.”

    Defense attorney Jamy Poss, who along with David Bradley and Charlton Pope represented Hubbard, told the jury the state’s case was based on “circumstantial” evidence.

    He then painted a scenario that it was Austin Dewayne Hammonds, who was the mastermind behind the shooting death as a way to coverup a break-in at Hubbard’s house.

    Poss said it was Hammonds, Young and Young’s girlfriend who broke into Hubbard’s house on Feb. 28, while Hubbard and his family attended his grandmother’s funeral.

    Police said Hubbard had Freeman killed in retaliation for someone breaking into his residence and taking money, a television, an Xbox and another computer gaming system.

    Hammonds, a member of the gang, testified it was his Xbox stolen from Hubbard’s house. He said he came up with Freeman’s name as a possible suspect after Freeman posted an Xbox on Facebook for sale. He told Hubbard it was his, but it turned out it wasn’t.

    Poss said Hammonds and Young planned the burglary and then planned on killing Freeman.

    “(Hammonds) picked KJ to die. I wish I knew why,” Poss said. “(The prosecution) wants you to believe that Hubbard was the head of the gang and gave all the orders.

    “This was a gang within a gang. Austin and Young got a plan to rob Hubbard and kill KJ. The mastermind, the leader, the one who picked KJ to die is Austin Hammonds, not Thomas Hubbard.”

    Chief Assistant District Attorney Kyle Brown warned the jury about believing what he called a fantasy.

    “There is zero proof of what (Poss) just told. His closing is fantasy land,” Brown said. “Don’t let the defense sell you reasonable doubt.”

    He said there was no evidence to back up any of the defense’s theory. “It doesn’t matter who broke into the house, it’s about who ordered the killing.”

    “There were no Sunday school teachers or community leaders in (Hubbard’s) bedroom hanging out with the Almighty Imperial Gangsters when they planned this killing.

    “The facts are not fantasy. Thomas Hubbard sent them out to do his dirty work. This was an intentional murder. The evidence is clear, (Hubbard) intended for KJ Freeman to be killed.”

    http://www.timesdaily.com/news/hubba...bef38e05f.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #36
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    Hubbard will spend the rest of his life in prison

    By Tom Smith
    Times Daily

    TUSCUMBIA — Thomas Hubbard will serve the rest of his life in jail without the possibility of parole.

    A Colbert County jury made the recommendation to Circuit Judge Jackie Hatcher Friday afternoon.

    The jury delivered 35 minutes before returning its decision.

    Hatcher has not set a sentencing date for Hubbard.

    Thr 33-year-old Hubbard was found guilty of capital murder Thursday afternoon in connection with the March 1, 2016, shooting death of Ki-Jana Freeman, 19, of Tuscumbia.

    Police said it was Hubbard who planned and ordered Freeman’s shooting death.

    “We respect the jury’s decision, but we were obviously disappointed with the original verdict. However, I believe they came to the right decision today, determining there were no aggravating factors (in Freeman’s death) and life without parole is the right sentence,” said defense attorney David Bradley, who along with Jamy Poss and Charlton Pope represented Hubbard.

    Colbert County Chief Assistant District Attorney Kyle Brown said the jury’s recommendation is reasonable.

    “They did not find there was an aggravating circumstance in the case, and in that regard their only option was life without,” Brown said.

    Brown said murder by shooting into a vehicle while the victim is there is not an aggravation factor by law.

    “It’s a capital crime, but not an aggravating factor,” he said.

    Testimony during the trial indicated the shooting was in retaliation after someone broke into Hubbard's residence.

    Witnesses testified that Hubbard was the head of the Almighty Imperial Gangers, and he had two members of the gang — Peter Capote and Benjamin Young — commit the shooting.

    Capote and Young have both been convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death.

    Freeman and a friend, Tyler Blythe, 19, Tuscumbia, who was 17 at the time, were both shot while sitting inside Freeman’s blue Ford Mustang at Spring Creek Apartments.

    http://www.timesdaily.com/news/crime/hubbard-will-spend-the-rest-of-his-life-in-prison/article_dd95a1c8-2a90-5eaa-bfef-3c093674947b.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #37
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    Hubbard gets life in prison without parole

    By Tom Smith
    Times Daily

    TUSCUMBIA – Thomas Hubbard was sentence to life in prison this morning by Colbert County Circuit Judge Jackie Hatcher.

    Hatcher announced her decision during a sentencing hearing.

    Hubbard, 33, Muscle Shoals, was found guilty of capital murder on June 28. The following day, the jury recommended that he be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Hatcher could have gone against the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Hubbard to death.

    Hubbard was found guilty of capital murder in connection with the March 1, 2016, shooting death of Ki-Jana Freeman, 19, of Tuscumbia.

    Police said it was Hubbard who planned and ordered Freeman’s shooting death.

    Testimony during the trial indicated the shooting was in retaliation after someone broke into Hubbard's residence.

    Freeman and a friend, Tyler Blythe, 19, Tuscumbia, who was 17 at the time, were both shot while sitting inside Freeman’s blue Ford Mustang at Spring Creek Apartments.

    http://www.timesdaily.com/news/crime...05a5c6816.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #38
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    Alabama Court Upholds Death Sentence in Gang Slaying

    A state appeals court has upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of capital murder in a gang-related killing in north Alabama

    By Associated Press

    MONTGOMERY, ALA. (AP) — A state appeals court upheld the death sentence Friday of a man convicted of capital murder in a gang-related killing in north Alabama.

    The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals rejected claims by Peter Capote, who was convicted in the 2016 killing of Ki-Jana Freeman and sentenced to die in 2018.

    Capote was a member of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters and killed the 19-year-old Freeman in retaliation for the alleged theft of an Xbox video game console that belonged to another member, the decision said.

    The teen was shot to death outside apartments in Tuscumbia, and another youth who was in the car with Freeman at the time was shot 13 times but survived, evidence showed.

    Judges rejected Capote's claims that the death sentence is too harsh for the crime, noting that another man convicted in the killing also was sentenced to die. The court also dismissed Capote's argument that there wasn't enough evidence for jurors to convict him.

    https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...n-gang-slaying
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #39
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    Writ of certiorari to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals denied by the Alabama Supreme Court

    https://law.justia.com/cases/alabama...0/1190678.html
    Last edited by Bobsicles; 02-21-2021 at 08:42 PM.
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

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  10. #40
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    Distributed for conference April 16, 2021.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/20-1136.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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