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Death is possibility for Hubbard
By Tom Smith
The Times-Daily
TUSCUMBIA — If Thomas Hubbard is found guilty of capital murder in connection with the 2016 shooting death of Ki-Jana Freeman, he will face the possibility of death.
His attorneys, David Bradley and Jamy Poss, had filed a motion to remove the death penalty as a punishment based on the fact that Hubbard is considered to be “intellectually disabled.”
Colbert County Circuit Judge Jackie Hatcher denied the motion during a hearing Tuesday morning. She also denied a motion for a change of venue.
Bradley and Poss based their motion to remove the death penalty on a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a Virginia case.
Bradley said the Supreme Court ruled in that case it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute an "intellectually disabled" individual, which is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.
Expert witness Dr. Allen Shealy, a clinical psychologist from Birmingham, said after talking to Hubbard and people who knew him, Shealy tested Hubbard. Hubbard's IQ tested at 63, Shealy said.
Based on the test results and the interviews, Shealy said Hubbard should be considered intellectually disabled "which years ago would have be considered mild retardation."
Chief Assistant District Attorney Kyle Brown argued Hubbard knew what he was doing when he gave law enforcement a statement about the incident, and when he set everything in motion that resulted in Freeman's death.
“Did you know that Hubbard hid the gun that was used in the shooting in a location in Franklin County where his uncle used to live, and he had it marked off with rocks so it could be found later?” Brown asked. “Does that not take some planning?"
Brown said Hubbard was head of a gang, and that he ran a business through the gang, receiving and selling marijuana.
"Which are signs of his ability to plan and to adapt," Brown said.
Bradley asked for the change of venue due to the media coverage of the prior trials of two of Hubbard’s co-defendants, who were found guilty and sentenced to death.
“There were two trials and two people sentenced to death in less than four months. That publicity could taint the jury pool,” Bradley said.
Brown said in the previous two trials, the potential jurors said they did not have knowledge of the case, or they had not read anything that would hinder a fair decision.
Hubbard’s capital murder case is scheduled to begin Thursday afternoon following the selection of a jury.
Hubbard, 33, 1100 Midland Ave., Muscle Shoals, is the person police say orchestrated the 2016 shooting death of Freeman, which took place in the parking lot of a Tuscumbia apartment complex.
Police said Peter Capote, 24, 1100 Midland Ave., Muscle Shoals.; Benjamin Owen Young, 30, 502 Staunton Ave., Florence; Riley Hamm III, 30, 2220 W. 17th St., Sheffield; De’Vontae Bernard Bates, 21, 106 Markate Ave., Muscle Shoals; and Hubbard are all charged ain connection with the shooting death of Freeman, 19, of Tuscumbia.
Capote and Young have been found guilty and sentenced to death. Hamm’s trial has not been scheduled.
Bates has pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy.
http://www.timesdaily.com/news/crime/death-is-possibility-for-hubbard/article_193e85a3-bbba-5d7a-adb4-fca6dac029b9.html
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