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Citronelle, AL (WALA) — A man found guilty in the brutal axe and gun killings of five people in Citronelle learned his sentence Friday, October 12.
Derrick Dearman was sentenced to death.
Dearman didn’t seem to react at the announcement of the sentence.
The murders happened in August 2016.
Police said he entered a home in early morning hours and attacked the sleeping residents using an axe and gun.
After he was arrested, Dearman told reporters he was high on methamphetamine at the of murders.
Following the hearing, the mother of Chelsea Reed, one of the victims, talked to reporters.
Victoria Walker said, “If you call this justice, I am satisfied with it, but, I do pray that, before he breathes his last breath, that he comes to the Lord because hell is for nobody.”
When asked if he she forgives him, Walker said, “I have forgiven him.”
District Attorney Ashley Rich said, “What happened also today that we didn’t know about was the defendant actually wrote a letter to Judge Stout prior to today and, in that letter, he begged to have Judge Stout impose the death penalty.”
Attorney Jason Darley said, “Based on all the law that is out there and a recent Supreme Court case, he can take this path and though we didn’t recommend it, it’s what he wanted.”
The victims were: Shannon Randall, her common-law husband Adam Turner, and her brother Robert Brown, Justin Reed and his wife, Chelsea Reed, who was five months pregnant.
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