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
Bookmarks