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Thread: Jimmy O'Neal Spencer - Alabama Death Row

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    Jimmy O'Neal Spencer - Alabama Death Row



    Marie Kitchens Martin,
    Colton Lee and Martha Reliford



    Jimmy O’Neal Spencer



    Homeless ex-con charged in slayings of 7-year-old, great-grandmother, another woman

    By Ashley Remus
    AL.com

    A homeless man released from prison within the past couple of years has been charged in the Guntersville slayings of three people, including a 7-year-old boy, authorities said.

    Jimmy Oneal Spencer, 52, is held in the Marshall County jail on four counts of capital murder, Guntersville police chief Jim Peterson said. Spencer is held without bail.

    "Through the grace of god, we've got the right guy," Peterson said.

    The bodies of Marie Kitchens Martin and her great-grandson Colton Ryan Lee were found at her home Friday afternoon. Martin was 74-years-old and a longtime resident of Guntersville; Colton was 7-years-old and visiting from Huntsville.

    Police were called to the Mulberry Street home around 4:36 p.m. Friday, where they found Martin and Colton's bodies inside. Peterson said he can't yet release the cause of death. He has previous said the two were "brutally murdered."

    While police were investigating at Martin's home, they were called to check on a woman from across the street who hadn't been seen in about 10 days. Officers there found 65-year-old Martha Reliford's body. Her death also has been ruled a homicide.

    Prosecutors said in court records that the women were robbed. Authorities haven't commented further on a motive for the case.

    "We know the motive, but I can't tell you yet," said John Young, the chief investigator for the Marshall County District Attorney's office.

    Police said there isn't any relationship between Spencer and the victims. Spencer was from Franklin County before he went to prison more than 20 years ago, authorities said. He was imprisoned for burglary. He was released within the past couple of years, Young said.

    Since early this year, Spencer had been sleeping on park benches or staying at motels around town, the police chief said.

    In a typically quiet Guntersville, police on Friday also investigated a fourth death, which is believed to have resulted from natural causes. That victim was identified as James Michael Baker, who had been reported missing from his home in Albertville early Friday morning.

    "This is not indicative of our city," Peterson said. He praised the work of his officers and investigators who have worked tirelessly since Friday afternoon.

    "I pray that although we can't give the family their loved ones back, we can at least deliver some degree of justice," the chief said.

    Young said Spencer appeared in court today for an initial appearance. Spencer is charged with two counts of capital murder during a robbery, one count for killing two or more people and one count for killing a person younger than 14.

    "We truly believe we've got the right guy," Young said.

    https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/20...rt_river_index
    "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

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    Former Franklin County man charged with 3 homicides

    By Anthony Campbell
    Times Daily

    A former Franklin County resident is jailed in Guntersville on four counts of capital murder, with one of the deaths a 7-year-old child.

    Guntersville police said Tuesday the deaths were discovered Friday afternoon on Mulberry Street in the Mill Village section of Guntersville.

    Jimmy O’Neal Spencer, 52, was charged. Police described Spencer as a homeless man who'd spent most of his adult life in prison.

    Chief Jim Peterson said Spencer is originally from Franklin County but had been in the Guntersville area since about January, sleeping on park benches and occasionally in a motel room. The chief said Spencer had spent more than 20 years in prison on burglary charges. He had apparently stayed at least part-time lately with Martha Reliford, one of the victims.

    On Friday, at 4:36 p.m., the bodies of 74-year-old Marie Kitchens Martin and her 7-year-old grandson were found in her home at 2402 Mulberry Street, behind Burger King. Family members said the victims both sustained blunt force trauma and that Martin was also strangled.

    The officers had been on the scene a little over an hour when a neighbor told them no one had seen Reliford, 65, in about a week. She lived across the street from Martin at 2321 Mulberry Street. Officers entered the home and found her dead. She was known to have health problems, including cancer, and Chief Peterson at the time termed her death as an “unknown death." Autopsy results Monday indicated she, too, was a victim of homicide.

    Both Peterson and chief district attorney's investigator John Young said the police work that went into solving the case was unlike anything they’d ever seen. Guntersville investigators and officers worked nearly around the clock and got help in their probe from officers with the Arab, Albertville and Boaz departments.

    “42 hours and 16 minutes after we arrived at the scene for the first time, Spencer was taken into custody,” Peterson said.

    He said they developed multiple persons of interest during the course of the investigation.

    “It was God’s blessing that led us to Spencer,” he said.

    Peterson said he was certain “we have the right man.”

    The next step will either be presenting the case to a grand jury or holding a preliminary hearing, said District Attorney Everett Johnson. He explained the four charges:

    • capital murder for the death of Marie Kitchens during the course of a robbery;

    • capital murder for the death of Colton Lee, who was under the age of 14;

    • capital murder for the deaths of Marie Kitchens and Colton Lee - deaths of two or more persons at the same time; and

    • capital murder for the death of Martha Reliford during the course of a robbery.

    Johnson said the object of the robberies was money. He said the case has been put on the docket for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 8.

    “We know he had stayed some with Ms. Reliford,” Johnson said. “He wasn’t living there, but he stayed there some and was an acquaintance. As for Mrs. Martin and Spencer, the details are unclear.”

    Young said he’d been in police work for 35 years and had never seen anything like the effort that went into this investigation.

    A fourth death was discovered two blocks away about the same time as the ones on Mulberry Street. James Michael Baker, of Albertville, was found dead in a ditch off the levee behind Guntersville Rescue Squad.

    A popular walking trail runs along the levee, and Peterson said it appears Baker’s death was due to natural causes.

    But he did say that presented another challenge for his investigators as they were dealing with the three other deaths on Mulberry Street.

    “There were so many directions this thing could have gone,” he said.

    He said the three homicides “are not indicative of Guntersville” and said everyone has a hard time remembering the last time Guntersville police worked a single murder case. The deaths had put the city on edge with people wondering just what had happened and showing concern that a killer was on the loose.

    http://www.timesdaily.com/news/crime...dcc41566e.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

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    MAN CHARGED IN GUNTERSVILLE MURDERS HAS EXTENSIVE CRIMINAL PAST

    'It enrages me that he was out,' said one prosecutor who knows Jimmy O'Neal Spencer's violent past

    By Breken Terry and Patrick Ary
    WAAY News

    The man charged with killing three people in Guntersville last week spent most of his adult life behind bars before being released earlier this year, authorities said.

    Jimmy O'Neal Spencer, 52, is in the Marshall County Jail without bond on four counts of capital murder.

    Spencer is accused of killing Martha Dell Reliford, 65, Marie Kitchens Martin, 74, and Martin's great-grandson Colton Ryan Lee, 7. Their bodies were found in two different homes on Mulberry Street Friday night.

    Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said he was sickened when he heard Spencer's name in connection with the murders. Spencer has a long rap sheet in his county.

    "The name immediately struck a chord," Rushing said. "I was like 'I wrote a letter on him and he shouldn't be out.' I was mad all over again that a small child is a victim of somebody who should still be in prison and still serving his life sentence."

    Spencer first went to prison in July 1984, when he was sentenced to a year for third-degree burglary in Franklin County, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections. An additional 10 years was tacked onto his sentence for a prison escape in September of that year, officials said. He received another 10 years for a second escape conviction in May 1985.

    Spencer was paroled in July 1988, but he was then arrested for second-degree burglary in Franklin County in January 1989. After a conviction, a judge sentenced him to life, Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said.

    "The only way they could get him to stop breaking in was to shoot him," Rushing said. "So that is obviously a very serious offense, and there was a lot of violence in that offense."

    Spencer escaped from prison again in March 1993 and was caught two months later. He was charged and convicted of breaking and entering a vehicle and third-degree burglary during his escape and had two more 16-year sentences added to the life sentence.

    Corrections officials said Spencer had 15 more years of prison time added for assaulting an inmate.

    Spencer was released from prison on Jan. 22, 2018. Rushing said both he and one of Spencer's burglary victims in Franklin County wrote letters to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles asking that he be kept in prison back in 2013.

    "In my letter I even referred to him as the type of person that doesn't need parole, because I would think of him as a violent person and somebody who has a number of prior felonies that would not be a good risk to let out on the parole system," Rushing said.

    Rushing said he hopes it anything can be learned from the case, it's that people who have violent pasts like Jimmy Spencer should not be let out of prison. He said he hopes the state parole board will look more closely at who's being let back into the community.

    "It enrages me that he was out," he said.

    http://www.waaytv.com/content/news/M...488539131.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

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    Investigator details Guntersville murders, investigation

    By Donna Thornton
    Gadsden Times

    A series of happenstances led Jimmy O’Neal Spencer to the Guntersville neighborhood where Martha Reliford and Marie Martin made their homes. Authorities believe they led to the deaths of those two women and Martin’s 7-year-old great-grandson, according to John Young, investigator with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office.

    A week after the lake city of Guntersville was rocked with the discovery of three murder victims in two residences on Mulberry Street, Young met with the press and talked about the crimes and the investigation that led to a quick arrest.

    The bodies of Martin, 74, and Colton Ryan Lee, of Huntsville, were found first July 13, but Young said investigators believe Reliford, 65, was the first of Jimmy O’Neal Spencer’s victims to die.

    Robbery motivated Spencer, Young said. The Franklin County man had been released from state prison in January, having served time for burglary. His exit address was the Jimmie Hale Mission in Birmingham, according to the investigator.

    There, he met someone from the Guntersville area — a man participating in a drug rehab program there. When that man completed the program, his mother came to get him for a visit before he moved to another program. Spencer asked for a ride, Young said.

    The acquaintance and his family took Spencer to his family, Young said, but things didn’t work out there so he ended up in the Guntersville area about April, sleeping on park benches, in ditches and on occasion in Marshall County shelters.

    He knew a relative of Reliford’s and that relative brought him to her home on Mulberry Street. Authorities don’t believe he ever stayed there, Young said, but met Reliford and had been to her house.

    And when he needed money, he came back.

    Investigators aren’t sure what day Spencer came to the woman’s home, but they believe he wanted money and she must have refused. He hit her, Young said, with the flat back of a hatchet and inflicted a stab wound.

    He took money and left then, based on what investigators have learned, and did not return.

    But in coming days — again, investigators are not sure how many — he needed money again. This time he went to Martin’s house, having met her, Young said, just from being around the neighborhood.

    “Her family has assured us she wouldn’t have opened the door,” Young said. He said investigators believe he used some ruse, and perhaps that recognition, to get her house.

    Martin died from strangulation and a stab wound. Her great-grandson died from blunt-force trauma, Young said. Money was taken, along with Martin’s vehicle.

    After the bodies of Martin and Lee were found, neighbors expressed concern about Reliford, and when police went to check on her, they discovered the first crime.

    Young explained the police initially looked for a man who’d spent time in the neighborhood, and they were able to rule out any connection with the crimes.

    Martin’s car was found — video showed it pulling through the Publix parking lot, occupied by a man with a lot of tattoos on his arm. Police began looking for other security footage and talking to people, trying to track the car’s occupants.

    As quickly as the vehicle was found, Young said, investigators believed the man driving it had to have been one who took it from Martin’s home.

    They were able to identify Spencer and passed out some photos. Patrol officers spotted him walking behind the Waffle House early Sunday morning and brought him in for questioning.

    That came just more than 42 hours after the crimes were discovered, Young said.

    Spencer has cooperated with the investigation somewhat, he said, helping investigators retrieve some stolen items. There is a lot of evidence to be examined, Young said, as the case moves forward.

    Spencer now is charged with two counts of capital murder during a robbery, capital murder of two or more persons, and capital murder of a child under 14.

    Young said investigators have many more people to be interviewed, but no more suspects.

    “We believe we have the right man,” he said.

    But given the circumstances of this crime, that may give little reassurance to people in this or any other neighborhood. Spencer had been in the neighborhood, Young said; people might not have considered him a stranger or a danger.

    “Just be careful,” Young said.

    http://www.gadsdentimes.com/news/201...-investigation
    "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. #5
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Man charged in Guntersville murders was paroled in January despite life sentence, DA’s 2013 warning

    BY BRIAN LAWSON
    whnt.com

    GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. -- Jimmy O’Neal Spencer, who is facing capital murder charges in the killings of three people in Guntersville, spent several years in Alabama prisons, but far fewer than his sentencing called for. He was paroled and released from prison in January.

    And his release came as a terrible surprise for a local district attorney who’d argued against it, five years ago.

    Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said he was unaware of Spencer’s release. Rushing told WHNT News 19 he can’t find any record of notification from the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles about Spencer’s November hearing.

    Rushing said he learned that Spencer was out of prison when he got a news alert saying Spencer had been arrested for the July 13 murders of Marie Martin, her 7-year-old great-grandson Colton Lee, and Martha Dell Reliford.

    Dating back to the mid-80s, Spencer spent much of the last three decades in prison. The Alabama Department of Corrections provided this narrative on Spencer to WHNT News 19:

    “Spencer, 52, was first sentenced to prison in July 1984 to one year for third-degree burglary in Franklin County. Later he was charged and convicted of a prison escape in September 1984 and received a 10-year sentence. Spencer again received another 10-year sentence to run consecutively with his prior sentences for a second escape conviction in May 1985.

    “Spencer was paroled by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles in July 1988. His parole was revoked in January 1989 for a second-degree burglary conviction in Franklin County. He received a life sentence in February 1990 following the conviction.

    “Spencer again escaped from prison on March 14, 1993, and was recaptured May 16, 1993. He was charged and convicted of unlawful breaking and entering a vehicle and third-degree burglary during his escape and received two 16-year sentences for each conviction to run consecutively with his life sentence.”

    “While serving his prison sentence, Spencer was charged and convicted of second-degree assault of an inmate and received a 15-year sentence.

    “Spencer received a second parole from the Board of Pardons and Paroles and was released from prison on January 22, 2018.”

    The sentences add up to basically 67 years, plus life. But altogether, he only served about 32 years total.

    And that’s the reality of Alabama’s overcrowded prison system, says Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard.

    “We only have so much prison space, and we only have so much funding for the prisons, and we have X number of people, that are, that are felons,” he said. “And, if we only have so much room, a decision has to be who we’re going to keep and who we’ll let go.”

    Spencer’s record includes mostly non-violent offenses, and that apparently helped him get out

    Broussard says, “The controlling factor was it a violent crime, or not, that you committed?”

    But, Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said there’s more to the Spencer story. In 2013 he sent a letter to the parole board opposing Spencer’s release, calling him dangerous. Rushing told the board Spencer had to be shot by a Franklin County resident to stop him during a burglary attempt in 1989.

    Broussard said for crime victims, the releases of convicted criminals are hard to understand, even in what are considered nonviolent cases.

    “It would probably shock a lot of the public,” Broussard said. “If you’re the man whose house has been broken into and they stole everything you got, and then you look, ‘There’s the guy who did it, out on the street,’ nine months later. You don’t understand that.”

    Spencer’s life sentence was for a 2nd degree burglary, but it was under the three-strikes system, basically life in prison for a third felony, which proved to be unworkable, Broussard said. So now, the corrections system focus is on prison reform, he said.

    “And all of that is just another way of saying, the old way was jamming up our prisons, and we don’t have any more space, and there may be federal intervention if we don’t do something about it.”

    https://whnt.com/2018/07/27/man-char...-2013-warning/
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

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    Guntersville Police find more valuable items on Highway 79 during third search

    By Olivia Steen
    WHNT 19 News

    GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. -- Authorities say on Saturday results have came back from a search in Guntersville. The search is connected to the triple homicide which occurred two weeks ago.

    Guntersville Police Department report July 28 more valuable items were found on Highway 79 after a third search. It is part of the Jimmy O'Neal Spencer triple homicide case.

    Crews searched a mile-and-a-half down the highway, according to a Guntersville Police Department member.

    "We searched that area and we also searched the small wooded area right behind the squad," Lieutenant Mike Turner said. "Out of our search we were able to obtain two articles of value that pertains to the case."

    Police tell WHNT News 19 the items will be examined. However, the items would not be disclosed.

    In addition to the recovery of the artifacts, officers were given more information from a woman.

    "Anything that we can find that has anything to do with the case at all is valuable," Turner said. "Even today during the search on 79, we had a lady that stopped that had some information that wanted to talk to law enforcement."

    Turner mentions they are not sure if another search warrant is necessary. Investigator say it depends on the information they are given.

    "Just to further our case. if we think that maybe some items that are important to the case we're going to do everything in our power to obtain them," Turner said.

    Spencer faces four counts of capital murder.

    https://whnt.com/2018/07/28/guntersv...-third-search/
    "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

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    Murdered 7-year-old remembered for his love of John Deere, trucks, puppies

    By Anna Claire Vollers
    AL.com

    He loved John Deere, tractor pulls and monster trucks. He helped plant a vegetable garden and loved sweeping.

    He adored his puppies, Harley and Max.

    Colton Ryan Lee was a blue-eyed 7-year-old who was an elementary-schooler in Huntsville. He was staying with his great-grandmother at her home in Guntersville earlier this month when the pair were brutally murdered, say police.

    Lee lived in Huntsville with his mother, Tiffany Lee, and his older brother. He was born just three months after his father Chris Lee, 23, died in September 2010, according to a GoFundMe page set up by the Albertville High School class of 2004 to assist with funeral costs and other expenses.

    To date, the GoFundMe page has raised about $2,110 of its $2,500 goal.

    Police found Lee and his great-grandmother, Marie Ann Martin, 75, dead at her Mulberry Street home on July 13. Lee died from blunt force trauma and Martin was strangled and stabbed; the home was also robbed.

    The person charged with both murders is 52-year-old Jimmy O'Neal Spencer, a homeless man and burglary convict who had been released from prison in January.

    Another victim, 65-year-old Martha Reliford, was found dead in her home across the street the same evening. Police say she was hit with a hatchet, stabbed and robbed of cash.

    Spencer is charged with two counts of capital murder during a robbery, one count of capital murder for killing two or more people, and one count of capital murder for killing a person younger than 14.

    A funeral was held for Lee and on July 19 in Guntersville. Lee is survived by his mother, brother and grandparents. Martin is survived by her son, as well as siblings and great-grandchildren.

    https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/post_180.html
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

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    Why was Jimmy Spencer free to brutally kill 3 people, victims' group asks

    By Carol Robinson
    AL.com

    The homeless convict charged in the killing of three people in a Guntersville home - including a 7-year-old-boy - was a known violent offender just out of prison, and the state's largest victims' advocacy group is outraged that he was on the streets.

    Janette Grantham, director of Victims of Crime and Leniency, on Wednesday lashed out at the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles for its handling of the case of Jimmy O'Neal Spencer.

    Spencer, 52, is charged with capital murder in the July 13 deaths of Martha Dell Reliford, 65, Marie Kitchens Martin, 74, and Martin's great-grandson, Colton Ryan Lee. Authorities said Spencer strangled and stabbed Martin before taking off with an undisclosed amount of cash. Lee, they said, died from blunt force trauma.

    The boy and his great-grandmother were found dead that Friday at her Mulberry Street home. Reliford - also killed by blunt force trauma - was found dead in her home across the street the same night. Investigators said she was hit with the flat side of a hatchet, stabbed and also robbed.

    According to court records and authorities, Spencer first went to prison in the early 1980s on a burglary conviction. In the years to come, he would be arrested again and again and ultimately sentenced to life. Those crimes all happened in Franklin County.

    He escaped from prison in 1993 and was charged with more property crime crimes that took place while he was on the run. According to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, Spencer was granted parole in November 2017, and released from prison in January. From there, he went to a halfway house in Birmingham. Spencer then met a man from Marshall County and ended up in Guntersville in April.

    Investigators said the convict was homeless - sleeping on park benches or in ditches and occasionally staying at local shelters.

    "According to Alabama law, he is a violent offender and had a life sentence and a long criminal background. He had been paroled once before, and within months his parole was revoked because he committed a new crime,'' Grantham said. "The last parole board denied his parole in 2013. Franklin County DA Joey Rushing sent a strong protest letter stating he was dangerous. A victim also sent a protest letter. These letters should have remained in his file for the current board to consider."

    "Why was he paroled four years later in 2017 by a different parole board? DA Rushing would have sent another strong protest letter if he had received his notice for the November hearing,'' Grantham said.

    She said VOCAL purchased a Board Action Sheet and learned Pardons and Parole Board Members Cliff Walker, chairman, and Terry Davis, who is no longer on the board, paroled Spencer to Life Tech - a six-month on-site transition course and both checked the "low to medium risk of re-offending'' box for Spencer.

    "If he was sent to Life Tech as stated, the earliest date he could have been released was in the May-June 2018 time frame. If he failed to complete Life Tech, he should have been returned to prison as his parole should have been revoked,'' Grantham said.

    "Yet he was seen in January in the Marshall County area. How is that possible?"

    Grantham also said every released inmate must have a qualified home plan and a support base before they are released. "Sleeping on a park bench is not a home plan,'' she said. "In addition, every released inmate must also have employment lined up.

    Homeless is not a job plan."

    Spencer was arrested on June 15, 2018 in Boaz for possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest, and attempting to elude a police officer. His bond was set at $3,000. "His parole should have been revoked,'' Grantham said. "Yet a month later he was still free to murder three innocent victims."

    Officials at the Board of Pardons and Paroles didn't immediately return to a request for comment on Grantham's press release. She said she called the board last week with her questions and was told the Board had asked for an investigation on Spencer's parole.

    Among those questions:

    -What made this inmate good for parole when the prior board did not parole him?

    -Was Jimmy O'Neal paroled to Life Tech as stated on the Board Action sheet?

    -Did he go to Life Tech?

    -Did he complete the 6 months on-site course?

    -If not, was his parole revoked?

    -Why not?

    -Was he returned to prison?

    -Did he have a home plan?

    -What was the plan?

    -Did he have a support base?

    -If so, who?

    -Did he have a job plan?

    -If so, what was his job plan?

    -If not, why was he released without a job and home plan?

    -Who was supervising his release as required by law?

    -Why was his parole not revoked when he committed new crimes in June?

    Grantham questioned why the board is paroling violent offenders with life sentences. She said a recent inmate had six life sentences - yet he was paroled. Just last week, she said. an inmate with a life sentence who stabbed his victim 27 times was released. "How do you stab someone 27 times and still be paroled,'' she said. "These individuals were denied by the previous parole board."

    "Maybe one day we will have answers. Regardless, it is too late for Marie Kitchens Martin, Colton Lee, and Martha Reliford,'' she said. "Their fate was sealed the day the two Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles members check marked the Parole Guidelines."

    "What is not questionable is the fact that this recent parolee brutally murdered a little 7-year old boy who loved John Deer tractors, a 74-year-old great-grandmother who was spending a few days with her great-grandson; a victim advocate - one of our own - Martha Reliford,'' she said. "Martha only had a few months to live due to cancer."

    As for how that happened, Grantham said this: "Paroles of violent offenders are being released by check marks on data driven parole guidelines. Two board members made a couple of check marks and here we are,'' she said. "Regardless of why Spencer was paroled, we know it was a terrible, terrible decision. A decision that was deadly."

    https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/i...r_free_to.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

  9. #9
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    New charges brought against man arrested in Guntersville triple murder

    By WAFF 48 Digital Staff
    WBRC FOX6 News - WBRC.com

    GUNTERSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - New charges have been brought against Jimmy O'Neal Spencer, the man charged in last month's Guntersville triple murder.

    WAFF has confirmed the Marshall County D.A. has added three counts of committing murder while under a life sentence to Spencer's docket.

    The charges are in addition to the four counts of murder that Spencer already was charged with seven counts of capital murder after being indicted by a Marshall County grand jury. He was served on Friday.

    http://www.wbrc.com/story/38812725/n...-triple-murder
    "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

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Preliminary hearing for Guntersville triple murder suspect cancelled

    By WAFF 48 and Allen Stroud

    GUNTERSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - Jimmy O'Neal Spencer was not in court on Wednesday.

    According to the District Attorney's Office, Marshall County District Judge Mitch Floyd cancelled the hearing following an indictment by a grand jury.
    WAFF 48 Legal Analyst Mark McDaniel says this is common.

    "So while you have an Alabama Rule of Criminal procedure that says you have a right to a preliminary hearing. If the case goes to the grand jury, which is in the constitution, before you have the preliminary hearing, you don't have that right to a preliminary hearing anymore" said McDaniel.

    Spencer's indictment includes 7 counts of capital murder for the Mulberry Street killings that happened in Guntersville in July. Three new counts added by the grand jury are for the intentional murder of each victim while he was serving a life sentence. Spencer was on parole for two life sentences at the time of the murders.

    McDaniel says that doesn't matter, he technically was still serving life.

    "So if you commit a crime, it's like you committed that crime while you were still serving that life sentence. So, he's indicted again, it's another capital count. Because this murder was committed while he was technically serving a life sentence." added McDaniel.

    The Marshall County DA's office says Spencer's arraignment is the next step. That should happen within a month.

    http://www.wtvm.com/story/38812725/p...pect-cancelled
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

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