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Thread: Justin Tyler Hosch - Alabama

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    Justin Tyler Hosch - Alabama




    Summary of Offense:

    Convicted and sentenced to death in the October 19, 2008 shooting death of Joel B. Wilmore. Capital charges were brought because Wilmore was killed during the commission of a robbery and a burglary. He was shot and killed in the auto repair shop he was building in the Pine Level community.

    Hosch was sentenced to death on October 13, 2010.

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    August 29, 2009

    Escapee could get death for 2008 murder

    A 21-year-old Madison County man faces the death penalty in the October 2008 shooting death of a local businessman.

    Justin Tyler Hosch has been indicted by a recent Autauga County Grand Jury on two counts of capital murder, along with burglary and theft of property charges, courthouse records show.

    He is charged with the murder of Joey Wilmore, 48, who was gunned down while he worked on the car repair shop he wanted to open in the Pine Level community, said District Attorney Randall Houston.

    "This is a death penalty case from the beginning. Justice demands that Hosch faces the death penalty due to the nature of this crime," Houston said.

    Hosch is being held at the Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County on unrelated charges of possession of marijuana and receiving stolen property, said Brian Corbett, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections. Hosch could not be reached for comment. Court records show he doesn't have an attorney in the Wilmore case.

    A copy of the indictments have been faxed to the prison to be delivered to Hosch, court records show.

    Wilmore had worked several weeks on the building that was to be his business, Houston said.

    "Joey Wilmore was well known and well respected in the community," the prosecutor said. "He had a reputation of helping people in need. His murder was a completely senseless act."

    Hosch had walked away from the Frank Lee Youth Facility in nearby Deatsville two days before Wilmore was killed, records show. The facility, now called Frank Lee Work Release Center, is a minimum-security facility.

    Capital murder charges are being pursued because prosecutors allege Wilmore was murdered in the commission of a burglary and robbery. Hosch allegedly stole Wilmore's pickup truck after he shot the businessman, Houston said.

    Two other aggravating circumstances exist in the case that allow for capital charges being pursued, Houston said. Hosch was under sentence of another crime at the time of the murder, and he committed the murder in an attempt to escape from custody, Houston said.

    "Our position is once you escape, you are attempting to flee from custody until you are recaptured," Houston said. "We feel Hosch stole Mr. Wilmore's pickup truck in an attempt to facilitate his escape from custody."

    At the time of Wilmore's death, the DOC didn't have a policy in place that informed media outlets or communities surrounding prisons of escapes. Rep. Mac Gipson of Prattville sponsored legislation during the most recent session of the Legislature that would require the prisons system to inform the public of escapes. The bill got bogged down and failed to come up for a vote. Gipson pledges he will introduce similar legislation next session.

    If convicted, Hosch faces the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole, Houston said

    http://www.prattvilleprogress.com/ar.../1040/progress

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    August 21, 2010

    Jury selection set to begin in capital murder trial of Hosch

    Jury selection begins Monday morning in Autauga County Circuit Court in the capital murder trial of Justin Tyler Hosch.

    Hosch, 22, faces two counts of capital murder in the Oct. 19, 2008, shooting death of Joel B. Wilmore. Capital charges were brought because Wilmore was killed during the commission of a robbery and a burglary. He was shot and killed in the auto repair shop he was building in the Pine Level community.

    Prosecutors allege Hosch killed Wilmore to steal his 1989 Chevrolet pickup in an effort to escape, court records show. Hosch had escaped from the Frank Lee Youth Detention Facility a few days before the slaying, according to courthouse records. The youth center is a minimum-security facility in Elmore County for male inmates who were younger than 21 when they were sentenced for nonviolent crimes. It is about seven miles from Wilmore's repair shop.

    The U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force arrested Hosch in Scottsboro about two weeks after Wilmore's death. Scottsboro is in Jackson County.

    The state is seeking the death penalty in the slaying case.

    "Mr. Wilmore was doing nothing wrong. He was working to open a business that would improve things for him and his family. Justin Hosch enters the picture, and Mr. Wilmore is taken from us," District Attorney Randall Houston said several weeks ago. Circuit Judge John Bush has since issued a gag order for participants in the trial.

    Tom Azar, one of Hosch's attorneys, declined to comment on the upcoming trial, citing the gag order. J. Carlton Taylor, Hosch's other attorney, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

    The trial should last about a week or a week and a half, attorneys told Bush in a status hearing held two weeks ago.

    If Hosch is convicted of capital murder, the penalty phase will begin immediately after the trial. The penalty phase is another hearing with the outcome being the jury's recommendation of a sentence. Bush can accept the jury's recommendation or overturn it.

    http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/...314/1007/rss02

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    August 27, 2010

    State examiner testifies in murder trial

    Joey Willmore died Oct. 19, 2008, from a gunshot wound to the head, fired at a range of less than 2 feet, a state pathologist told a jury in Autauga County Circuit Court on Thursday.

    Willmore, 49, was found dead by his brother. He was lying on the floor of the auto repair shop he was working to open. The .38-caliber bullet entered Willmore's head just above his left ear and exited above his right ear, testified Dr. Stephen Boudreau, the senior medical examiner with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, who performed the autopsy on Willmore.

    Justin Tyler Hosch, 22, faces capital murder charges in the case, and the state is seeking the death penalty. His trial began Tuesday morning. Hosch faces two counts of capital murder because prosecutors allege Willmore was killed during the commission of a burglary and robbery.

    Boudreau testified that evidence shows the fatal shot was fired from a "close range" of less than 2 feet.

    Prosecutors contend Hosch shot and killed Willmore to steal his pickup for use in his escape from Frank Lee Youth Facility. He escaped Oct. 14, 2008, previous testimony revealed. Frank Lee is a minimum-security facility that houses youth younger than 21 who are charged with nonviolent offenses. The metal building Willmore was going to use for his business is near the intersection of Autauga County 40 and U.S. 31 in the Pine Level community, about 7 miles from the youth facility.

    Defense attorney Tom Azar told the jury in his opening statement Tuesday that Hosch was in the building but that he wasn't alone. Someone else killed the mechanic, Azar told the jury.

    Hosch was captured the night of Oct. 24, 2008, by U.S. Marshals while staying at a friend's house in Scottsboro. Hosch telephoned friend Adam Bailey on Oct. 21, 2008.

    "He called and said he wanted to celebrate to catch up on old times," Bailey testified. "He told me he was looking for a job and was out on good behavior."

    Bailey said marshals contacted him a few days later asking if he knew Hosch's whereabouts. He told them that he did and gave them permission to enter his home to capture Hosch.

    Marshals traced Hosch to the Huntsville area, where Bailey worked in a tobacco shop, by tracing cellular phone calls Hosch made, said Deputy Marshall Tony Overstreet, who worked in the Huntsville marshals office at the time. Hosch was arrested without incident about 11 that night after marshals surrounded and then entered Bailey's home, Overstreet told the jury.

    Testimony is set to resume about 8:30 a.m. today. The state expects to rest its portion of the case after lunch.

    http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/...313/1007/rss02

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    August 28, 2010

    Victim's widow testifies in murder trial

    Joey Willmore was shot and killed 29 years to the day after he met the woman who would become his wife.

    The couple met Oct. 19, 1979, and Willmore was slain Oct. 19, 2008, his widow, Jimmie, told jurors Friday in the capital murder trial of Justin Tyler Hosch. They were married in January of 1981, she said.

    Jimmie Willmore took the stand just before the state rested its case against Hosch, 22.

    Willmore, 49, was found shot to death in the auto repair shop he was working to open near the intersection of Autauga County 40 and U.S. 31 in the Pine Level community.

    About 3:40 p.m. on the day he was killed, Joey Willmore told his wife he was going to the shop, and that he would be right back, Jimmie Willmore said. It was a Sunday afternoon.

    "I started to ride with him," she said, halting her testimony and gently sobbing. "I saw what time it was, and I decided to start supper because I wanted to get that done early."

    Investigators believe Willmore was killed about 4 p.m. She told the jury she tried to call her husband several times that afternoon on his cellular phone, but the calls went right to his voice mail. She said she even drove to the shop about 6:45 p.m., but noticed his truck wasn't parked outside, so she drove back to their home and started calling family members to find out where her husband might be.

    About two hours later, she drove back up to the shop and saw sheriff's office vehicles with flashing lights.

    "Until then I had a feeling, but then I knew something was wrong," she testified.

    Hosch's trial began Tuesday morning in Autauga County Circuit Court. He faces two counts of capital murder because prosecutors allege Willmore was killed during the commission of a burglary and robbery. The state is seeking the death penalty.

    Hosch had escaped from Frank Lee Youth Facility on Oct. 14, 2008, earlier testimony revealed. Frank Lee is minimum-security facility that houses men younger than 21 who are charged with nonviolent offenses.

    Investigators believe Hosch shot Willmore and stole his 1989 Chevrolet pickup to aid in his escape. The family called the pickup, which was red and white, the "candy cane truck," Jimmie Willmore told the jury.

    Earlier Friday, prosecutors called Julius Morris "Boss" Pearson, 29, of Huntsville to testify. He took the stand wearing orange jail garb. He told the jury he was being held in the Madison County Jail under a charge of possession of a controlled substance. Pearson testified that at the time of Willmore's death, he was dating Hosch's sister, Kellie.

    Pearson said that on Oct. 20, 2008, Kellie Hosch called him and told him to pick up Justin Hosch, who was waiting near Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. He said the three went back to a house where Pearson was staying. He testified he knew Hosch had "escaped from prison."

    "He wanted to know why we hadn't come down there to pick him up after he escaped," Pearson said. "He told me, 'I killed a man after escaping from prison.' He told me he shot the dude in the head. I really didn't know if I believed him or if he was saying it just to sound tough."

    Pearson said Hosch then showed him two .38-caliber revolvers he allegedly had stolen from a house a few miles down Autauga County 40 from Willmore's shop just a few hours before the slaying. The two guns were identical in appearance, according to earlier testimony. Pearson said he asked Hosch if he could have the gun he didn't use in the shooting, and Hosch gave it to him.

    The next morning, he apparently picked up the wrong gun, Pearson testified. On Oct. 21, Huntsville police pulled over the car Pearson was driving and found the gun. It was later proved to be the murder weapon.

    "Boss, did you have anything to do with the murder?" Assistant District Attorney Jessica Sanders asked him.

    "No, ma'am," he answered.

    "Boss, did you at any time travel to Prattville after Justin Hosch escaped to help him?"

    "No, ma'am," he replied.

    In his opening statements Tuesday, defense attorney Tom Azar told the jury that Hosch was in Willmore's shop, but that he wasn't there alone and he didn't kill Willmore.

    Azar attempted to point to a Huntsville drug dealer who was found with the murder weapon as the real killer.

    On cross-examination of Pearson on Friday, Azar did not ask him if he was involved in Willmore's murder and did not ask him if he was in Autauga County at the time of the shooting.

    Azar questioned Pearson about his past legal problems and asked him if he was a gang member. Pearson testified he was a member of the Crips.

    Defense attorneys called Autauga County Sheriff Herbie Johnson as their first witness. Johnson was asked if he prayed with Hosch after he was arrested and taken back to Prattville to undergo questioning in the Willmore case.

    He testified that he walked upstairs in the sheriff's office to check on the progress of the questioning. He said then-Chief Deputy Donny Nelson and Capt. Joe Sedinger were standing outside the interview room, and Hosch was inside alone.

    "I walked past the room and Justin said, 'Sheriff I need to talk to you,'" Johnson testified. He said Hosch wanted to tell him where Willmore's pickup was. "He asked me to say a prayer for him before I got up and left the room."

    Johnson testified that the conversation was short.

    On cross-examination, he told Sanders he said a short, simple prayer.

    "He didn't pray with me," Johnson told Sanders. "I said a real simple prayer, thanking God for the day and his blessings and asking God to be with Justin at this time. Then I went out of the room so Chief Nelson and Captain Sedinger could come back in."

    Testimony is set to begin again Wednesday, and the defense told Circuit Judge John Bush one more witness could be called. Bush has a scheduling conflict and other court duties Monday and Tuesday.

    Closing arguments are expected Wednesday, and the jury could begin deliberations in the case after lunch.

    http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/...357/1007/rss02

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    August 31, 2010

    Accused killer expected to take stand

    Justin Tyler Hosch, the accused killer of Pine Level auto mechanic Joey Wilmore, was expected to take the stand in his own defense when his capital murder trial resumed today.

    Hosch, 22, is charged with shooting the local man once in the head with a .38-caliber pistol inside the repair shop Wilmore had been planning to open near the intersection of U.S. 31 North and County Road 40.

    Phyllis T. Rollan, a division chief with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified last Thursday that DNA analysis of bloodstains found on a T-shirt discovered at the site of a rural burglary near the murder scene matched the DNA standard taken from Hosch.

    Two pistols -- including the one from which authorities determined the fatal shot was fired -- were reportedly taken during that burglary, which occurred just hours prior to the Sunday afternoon, Oct. 19, 2008, slaying.

    The defendant had escaped from the Frank Lee Youth Facility in Elmore County five days prior to Wilmore's murder. He was serving time at the minimum-security correctional institution after his conviction on a drug possession charge.

    Tom Azar, one of Hosch's attorneys, had stated last week during opening arguments that his client was inside Wilmore's shop, but that he wasn't alone.

    The defense attorney said that he and co-counsel Jay Taylor would prove that a Huntsville dope dealer, who was in possession of the murder weapon when he was stopped by police in that city, actually killed Wilmore.

    Instead, the alleged drug dealer -- 29-year-old Julius "Boss" Pearson of Huntsville -- testified Friday that on Oct. 20 he and his girlfriend, the defendant's sister, drove to a spot near Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville and picked Hosch up.

    Pearson testified that his girlfriend's brother had two identical .38-caliber pistols, and that Hosch told him that he had killed a man -- had shot him in the head -- after escaping from prison.

    The witness claimed that he asked Hosch for the pistol that wasn't used in the murder, but picked up the wrong one and had it in his car when he was arrested in Huntsville.

    According to unconfirmed reports, Hosch and possibly one other witness will take the stand before Assistant District Attorney Jessica Sanders, the lead prosecutor, and the defense attorneys present their closing arguments.

    Judge John Bush, who imposed a gag order on all participants in the trial, will then charge the jury and deliberations will begin. Speculation is that the panel -- which consists of 10 women and four men, including two alternates who will be identified and released prior to deliberations -- will get the case late today or early tomorrow.

    http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/...ID=20109010304

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    September 2, 2010

    Jury sentences Hosch to death

    A jury announced the fate of 22-year-old Justin Tyler Hosch in the murder case of a Pine Level business man Thursday. Hosch will receive the death penalty.

    Hosch was convicted Wednesday on all counts in the October 2008 murder of Joey Wilmore at a local mechanic shop. Hosch had escaped from the Frank Lee Work Release Center in Deatsville just two days before the murder. He'd been serving a seven year sentence for marijuana possession. Authorities found the escapee living in an old limosine on the property.

    Sentencing is set for October 14.

    http://www.wsfa.com/global/story.asp?s=13092563

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    October 14, 2010

    Hosch Gets Death Penalty in Autauga Co. Killing

    An Autauga Co. judge has sentenced Justin Hosch to death for the murder of Joey Wilmore in Pine Level.
    The judge followed the jury's recommendation in giving Hosch, 22, the death penalty. Hosch is convicted of the shooting death of Wilmore, 48, at his shop in 2008.

    District Attorney Randall Houston says Hosch is a threat to society and deserves the sentence.

    Hosch's attorney says that he is an innocent man that acted out of desperation.

    "We respectfully disagree that this is a crime the death penalty should be imposed on. He was under great distress and made some horrible decisions based on what the evidence did show, but this is a young man that never really had a chance," Hosch's attorney Jay Taylor told CBS 8 News.

    "I think he's a cold ruthless killer and I think if we were to let him out he would kill again," Houston said.

    Judge John Bush said that he took into account that Hosch was only 20 years old at the time of the murder. But he told Hosch the evil committed far exceeds his number of years on the earth.

    Hosch had escaped from the Frank Lee Youth Center in Deatsville before Wilmore's murder

    http://www.waka.com/news/4365-hosch-...y-killing.html

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    Suit: Alabama Department of Corrections did not follow procedures

    An Autauga County woman whose husband was shot and killed in October 2008 by an escaped prison inmate is alleging the prison system didn't properly classify the inmate in an effort to ease overcrowding.

    Jimmie Willmore filed a lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Corrections and several prison system employees in Montgomery County Circuit Court last year. The suit seeks $10 million in damages and alleges the prison system was negligent for allowing Justin Tyler Hosch to escape from a minimum-security facility.

    An Autauga County jury convicted Hosch in September 2010 in the shooting death of Joey Willmore. Circuit Judge John Bush handed down the death penalty in the case.

    An amendment to the lawsuit was filed last week and states Hosch never should have been given "good time" or allowed to serve his sentence at Frank Lee Work Release Center instead of a medium- or maximum-security facility.

    The amendment alleges former Department of Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen established a policy to "reduce inmates' sentences imposed by the courts, including Justin Hosch's, by automatically deducting unearned and speculative good time thereby placing inmates in less secure facilities and releasing inmates prior to the completion of their sentences."

    The prison system should have known Hosch was an escape risk, said Kenneth Mendelsohn, Willmore's attorney.

    "Hosch never should have been placed at Frank Lee, and the Willmore family never should have had to go through this tragedy," Mendelsohn said. "Former Commissioner Allen went against DOC policies and state law by not having inmates properly classified. That allowed inmates to be put in facilities where they did not belong.

    "We feel this was done to allow inmates to be released before their sentences were over to address overcrowding in the prison system."

    Allen, now serving as chief deputy attorney general, declined to comment on the lawsuit, referring questions to DOC attorneys handling of the case.

    It is DOC policy not to comment on pending lawsuits, said Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the prisons system.

    The lawsuit also alleges DOC was negligent because it didn't inform the public of Hosch's escape.

    "He was gone 14 hours before the escape was reported within the DOC itself," Mendel*sohn said. "If the prison system had informed the public that there had been an escape, people in that area could have taken precautions.

    "Maybe Joey Willmore wouldn't have been working in his shop that afternoon."

    Bob Northcutt, a DOC attorney, wouldn't comment on specific allegations brought out in the lawsuit.

    "This was a horrible tragedy, and the sympathy of everyone in the department is extended to the Willmore family," he said. "We feel the person responsible for this act has been found guilty by a jury."

    Hosch walked away from Frank Lee four days before shooting Joey Willmore inside the Pine Level auto repair shop Willmore was working to open. Frank Lee is located near Deatsville, about a dozen or so miles away from the Pine Level area. Prosecutors sought capital murder charges because they felt Willmore was murdered in the commission of a robbery and burglary.

    The state proved that Hosch entered the garage, shot Willmore and then stole Willmore's pickup to flee the area.

    The lawsuit states Hosch had been sentenced to probation in Madison County on a possession of marijuana charge. While on probation, Hosch was caught driving a stolen Corvette and charged with receiving stolen property.

    A Madison County judge revoked his probation and ordered him to the custody of the prisons system, the lawsuit reads.

    Hosch had an "extensive" juvenile record, had disciplinary problems while incarcerated in the Madison County Jail, and attempted to run from police after being caught driving the stolen sports car, the lawsuit states.

    "He certainly didn't fit the requirements for being placed in a minimum-security facility that didn't even have a fence," Mendelsohn said. "The system failed the Willmores. The policies put in place by former Commissioner Allen are still in place in the prison system today.

    "I understand the need for minimum-security facilities. But the Department of Corrections has a duty not to place the public's safety and security at risk."

    http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/...xt|Frontpage|s

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    On November 8, 2013, Hosch's death sentence was affirmed by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.

    http://statecasefiles.justia.com/doc...?ts=1384279321

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