A day after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey set Derrick Ryan Dearman’s execution date, relatives of the victims struggled to reconcile that heinous act with the defendant’s now years-long public acceptance of responsibility and desire to meet the consequences of his actions.
The murders took place in August 2016. Eight years is a long time, but it's actually fast when it comes to the death penalty.) - Prosecutors called it one of the most shocking and brutal crimes ever committed in Mobile County – an ax attack that left five people dead.
, relatives of the victims struggled to reconcile that heinous act with the defendant’s now years-long public acceptance of responsibility and desire to meet the consequences of his actions. Semmes resident Bryant Randall, whose daughter was pregnant with his grandchild when Dearman killed her in 2016, told FOX10 News that he believes drugs played a role, said he has followed the defendant’s public statements. “Maybe he wasn’t a bad person,” he said. “Maybe it’s because of his addiction that caused him to do this.” Dearman, 35, had had a stormy relationship with a woman when he went into a house in Citronelle where her relatives were living in August of that year. The Leakesville, Mississippi, man picked up an ax in the yard and found guns inside the home and used those weapons to kill Robert Lee Brown; Joseph Turner and his wife, Shannon Randall; Justin Reed and his wife, Chelsea, as well as her unborn child. “Certainly, it rattled the community,” Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said. “I think that it still impacts the community, especially up in Citronelle. But you know, one of the most gruesome homicide scenes that we’ve had. We’ve had a lot of gruesome ones, but this one was pretty gruesome.”Brooklyn Randall was just 19 when her mother, Shannon Randall, died in the massacre. She said this week’s news that Dearman has been scheduled for execution has brought back raw feelings. “It is very emotional for me and for my family because it’s like tearing a Band-Aid off,” she said. “So we’re having to relive that moment again.” Bryant Randall said it took him five years to get past his feelings of vengeance. And he said he still believes in the death penalty but also in healing and forgiveness. “I have no hate for Derrick,” he said. “Because one day we all going to be judged. And I hope I’m judged according to my actions. And I hope I can be a good person. … I don’t condemn him to Hell. That’s not my place. But I hope he, you know, can go in peach. I have no hate towards him.” Eight years from the murder to execution may seem like a long time, but for capital murder, it is light speed. Consider that eight people convicted in Mobile County have been waiting on death row far longer – including one who arrived in 1998. Both Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood and Jason Darley, who represented Dearman at trial, said they never have seen a capital case move so fast from conviction to execution. They attributed that to Dearman’s insistence that his lawyers not contest the sentence. In April, Dearman sent a hand-written letter to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall indicating that he had fired his lawyers and was asking for the sentence to be carried out. “It is not fair to the victims or their families to continue to delay the Justice they so rightly deserve,” he wrote. “I am guilty and was fairly sentenced to death.” Darley said Dearman was the same way at trial. He pleaded guilty, but since it was a capital case, prosecutors still had to present the case to a jury. Darley said Dearman would let his lawyers challenge the evidence. Some of that evidence, Darley added was “suspicious.” He said there were some indications that Dearman might have been egged on, which might have been a mitigating factor to present to a jury. He also said his client was high on methamphetamine. “I’ve probably been involved in 25 to close to 30 capital cases at some point now in the past 19 years or so,” he said. “And this is far and away, the most bizarre.”“This is what he wanted to do,” he said. “I mean, he terminated us, and we were made standby counsel, and he abandoned his defenses. And, you know, this is what he wanted to do.”“Derek found religion in the jail and was adamant that he wanted to take responsibility and pay for the crimes that he committed and abandoned his defenses,” he said.“I do believe that it’s genuine remorse. … It’s heartbreaking, really. It truly is.” The governor said in her announcement that she has no plans to grant clemency. As for the execution, Brooklyn and Bryant Randall said they plan to be there.Woman charged with beheading man with chainsaw3 die in Mount Vernon crash on Labor DayFoley man charged with child pornography while out on bond for fatal hit-and-run
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