MARSHALL COUNTY, Ala. — UPDATE: Jimmy O'Neal Spencer was formally sentenced to death on November 18, 2022, after the jury recommended the death penalty for his crimes.
UPDATE:
Jimmy Spencer was found guilty of four counts of murder and three counts of capital murder in the 2018 killings of Martha Reliford, Marie Martin and her great grandson 7-year-old Colton Lee on Mulberry Street in Guntersville.
Sentencing is scheduled for Friday, October 28, 2022
UPDATE: Jury selection is underway in the trial of Jimmy O'Neal Spencer in Marshall County. Spencer is facing seven charges:
- Three counts of murder
- One count of killing multiple people
- One count of killing a person under 14 years of age
- Two counts of robbery
Prosecutors want to the death penalty on the table.
A man convicted of killing three people, including a 7-year-old boy, in robberies that netted $600 was sentenced to death on Monday by a judge who called him “a reason for the death penalty to exist.”
A judge handed down the death sentence to Jimmy O’Neal Spencer in accordance with the jury’s decision last month, news outlets reported. Spencer, who had been on parole at the time of the killings, was found guilty of capital murder in the 2018 deaths of Martha Dell Reliford, 65; Marie Kitchens Martin, 74; and Martin’s great-grandson, Colton Ryan Lee, 7.
The women were killed in separate robberies that netted about $600, prosecutors said, and the boy was killed because he was a witness.
“It’s ordered and judged by this court that you be sentenced to death and you deserve death. If there ever was a reason for the death penalty to exist in this state, you’re it,” Marshall County Circuit Judge Tim Riley told Spencer, according to WHNT.
The judge was bound to the jury's death sentence decision because lawmakers in 2017 ended the ability of a judge to override a jury's sentence recommendation in capital murder cases. Spencer and the victims' families spoke to the court before the death sentence was pronounced.
“He belongs in hell,” Nellie Wray, Reliford’s sister, said, according to al.com. “He killed a baby and two innocent women.”
Spencer had been paroled eight months before the slayings. He was released after serving 28 years of a life sentence for a variety of convictions including burglary and assault. Evidence over four days of trial showed Spencer did well initially after being released from prison but returned to crime after losing a job.
Politicians cited Spencer’s case in pushing to make the state’s parole process tougher, and the rate of paroles has dropped sharply since then.
Spencer told the court he would would go back and change what happened if he could.
“I am sorry about what happened. There’s no way I can change it. If I could I would.”
During the trial, investigators played an audio recording of Spencer saying he went to the houses in July 2018 to steal money and committed the killings to avoid leaving witnesses.
He first went to the home of Reliford, whom he had met through a relative, and hit her in the head with a hatchet, authorities said. Worried the woman wasn’t dead, Spencer cut her throat with a kitchen knife before fleeing with about $600.
Days later, after the money ran out, he went to the home of Martin, Reliford’s neighbor, and strangled her with a dog leash before cutting her throat, authorities said. Spencer bashed the child’s head with a hammer to prevent the boy from identifying him and left with $13, authorities said.
While the defense challenge Spencer’s mental competency, a judge ruled he was able to stand trial.
Statement from the office of Attorney General Steve Marshall:
Attorney General Steve Marshall attended the hearing held by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday morning, voicing his and the State of Alabama’s strong opposition to the release of Jimmy O’Neal Spencer from prison.
The Board voted to deny Spencer’s parole. Jimmy O’Neal Spencer, 56, is a violent career criminal with an extensive arrest record spanning several decades and comprising numerous felonies. He first went to prison in the early 1980s, and continued to commit crime after crime in the years that followed, both inside and outside of custody. In 1989, after committing a burglary and being sentenced as a habitual offender for his repeat felony convictions, Spencer received his first life-in-prison sentence. In 1993, after escaping from custody and committing a number of other crimes while on the run, Spencer received his second life-in-prison sentence.
Despite serving two life sentences and posing a clear and present danger to public safety, Spencer was granted parole by the previous Board in 2018. Shortly thereafter, Spencer absconded from supervision and murdered Martha Reliford, 65, Marie Martin, 74, and Colton Lee, 7, in Marshall County. He has been charged with capital murder and is awaiting trial.
“I am pleased that the Board has denied Jimmy Spencer parole for the crimes for which he is currently serving two life sentences,” said Attorney General Marshall. “But his case continues to highlight fatal flaws in Alabama’s criminal laws. Under no circumstance should a man serving two life sentences and awaiting trial on three capital-murder charges ever be eligible for parole. We must strengthen Alabama’s criminal laws, which—as cases like this and those of Austin Patrick Hall illustrate—are too promiscuous with regard to public safety. I plan to work with the Legislature to correct that, to the end of keeping violent criminals incarcerated and innocent citizens safe.”
In 2019, the tragedy that ensued following the parole of Jimmy O’Neal Spencer led Attorney General Marshall, along with Governor Ivey, to work with the Legislature to reform the badly broken Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. That effort has been a success, significantly overhauling the institution and increasing the safety of the people of Alabama. However, Attorney General Marshall has been clear and consistent that Alabama’s criminal laws are also in vital need of reform, as Spencer’s newest opportunity for parole aptly illustrates.