DA says he'll pursue death penalty in capital murder case
By Evan Belanger
The Decatur Daily
Prosecutors will pursue the death penalty if a Morgan County jury convicts Dewayne Oneal Hicks of capital murder for the 2013 slaying of James Patrick Travers II during an alleged robbery attempt, said District Attorney Scott Anderson.
Jury selection for Hicks’ trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 2, with opening remarks by attorneys slated for Aug. 7, according to court records and attorneys involved in the case.
Hicks’ court-appointed attorneys, Brian White and Griff Belser, declined to discuss details of the case this week, citing the seriousness of the charges, but said they are prepared to go to trial next month and do not foresee any delays.
Hicks, 26, of Madison, is one of three men charged with capital murder in the slaying that occurred during an apparent botched robbery attempt at Travers’ home.
One of the defendants, Ryan O’neal Caudle, 25, of Decatur, already has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of felony murder. He was given a life sentence in exchange for the guilty plea and his agreement that he testify against the remaining defendants in the case, according to the DA’s office.
The third defendant, Charles K. Makekau, 28, of Decatur, is scheduled for trial Oct. 25 on a charge of capital murder for his alleged role as the planner of the robbery.
If convicted of capital murder, state law only allows for two possible sentences: death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Anderson was not prepared to say whether his office would pursue the death penalty against Makekau if he is convicted of capital murder.
“We’ll just take them one case at a time,” he said.
According to the sworn affidavit of Decatur Police Detective Michael Burleson, police responded to a 911 call reporting a burglary in progress at Travers' home on the night of June 18, 2013.
The caller, Jasmine Sharpley, said two men entered the home at 1402 Mitchell Pines Trail S.E. while she and Travers were in bed and demanded money, according to the affidavit. At least one of the men was armed with a rifle, Burleson swore in the affidavit.
The two men pulled Travers from his bed, and one took him downstairs. Moments later, Sharpley said she heard a gunshot and was escorted downstairs by the other man, according to the affidavit.
The two men fled the scene together, and a passerby discovered Travers’ body lying at the edge of U.S. 31, about 30 yards from his residence, minutes after the 911 call, Burleson swore.
The affidavit does not specify how police identified Caudle and Hicks as suspects, but said they became suspects in the initial stages of the investigation. It also said Caudle had taken possession of a .30-caliber carbine rifle hours before the murder and that the two men went to the residence about seven hours before the incident and conducted a “practice run” of the robbery.
Caudle was arrested in Detroit on July 29, 2013, and provided a written statement detailing how he and Hicks planned, practiced and executed the robbery and claimed Hicks was the one armed with the .30-caliber rifle and the one who shot Travers, according to the affidavit.
Hicks gave a conflicting statement when he was brought in for questioning the next day, claiming he and Caudle planned and practiced the robbery but backed out when he found out who the target was and spent the entire night with a friend. That alibi was “refuted by the witness,” according to the affidavit.
The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Hoover determined a bullet removed from Travers’ body during an autopsy was a .30-caliber carbine projectile, according the affidavit.
In a separate affidavit, Burleson swore Makekau said during questioning that he had come up with the plan to burglarize Travers' home, giving Caudle the disarm code for the alarm system and telling him there would be a large amount of cash at the residence.
Makekau told police he was to be paid a portion of the money from the home and that he had texted Caudle at 2 a.m. the night of the incident to ask what happened, according to the affidavit.
“I didn’t get nothing, he ran,” was Caudle’s response, according to the affidavit.
Hicks and Makekau are being held in the Morgan County Jail without bail.
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