HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Attorneys for the man convicted of killing a Huntsville drug task force agent say that because a jury did not unanimously agree on imposing the death penalty, it should be tossed in favor of a life sentence. LaJeromeny Brown was found guilty of capital murder on Oct. 31 in the death of STAC agent Billy Clardy. The jury voted, 10 to 2, in favor of the death penalty.
Court documents filed Nov. 15 show Brown's attorneys are now asking the court to instead change the sentence to life imprisonment, citing the split vote tally. The filing cites other state rulings, including Florida and Delaware, which have revised their capital sentence statues. In those states, it is now a unanimous vote which is mandated to impose the death penalty. "The consensus requiring unanimity to impose a death sentence is consistent with the history of right to trial by jury," the attorneys write in their argument.
They add that, in their argument, permitting the death sentence without a unanimous jury poll violates Section 11 of the Alabama State Constitution. Defense attorney Bruce Gardner told FOX54 after the penalty phase of the trial, "Alabama is the only state in the union that allows a sentence of death on less than a unanimous verdict."
A hearing on this motion is set for January 12.
Brown was indicted in August 2021 and charged with capital murder in the December 2019 death of Huntsville STAC agent Billy Clardy III during an undercover operation at a home on Lavert Street. Investigators say Clardy died from a gunshot wound to the heart, just beyond the protection of the bulletproof vest he was wearing.