Killingworth cops plea,
escapes jury and death in second trial
By Daniel L. Bamberg
Daniel@Centrevillepress.com
Jimmy Lamar Killingsworth has now been convicted of capital
murder for the second time.
After the 2004 killing of Steven Spears in a drive-by en
route shooting and attempted murder of Stephen’s wife Monica, he was initially
sentenced to death. That
conviction came in 2006. Upon
review of the trial, the Alabama Supreme Court granted Killingsworth a
re-trial. According to the State
Supreme Court a specific juror who suggested she could not be unbiased, should
have been stricken from selection in the 2006 trial.
Upon a new jury selection Killngsworth’s attorneys entered
a plea of guilty to Circuit Judge, Tommy Jones on Monday, July 16. With the plea Killingsworth receives
life in prison without the possibility of parole, but escapes the death penalty.
Killingsworth also escaped the opportunity to be retried in front of the
new jury of his peers, which the State Supreme Court granted him.
Attorney General Luther Strange was satisfied with the new
conviction.
“I am pleased that justice has been preserved with this
defendant again convicted for his terrible crime,” said Strange. “This was a horrifying crime of
senseless random violence that demands severe punishment.”
On December 10, 2004 Steven Spears and his wife Monica were
attacked on Highway 139 near Ashby.
Allegedly Killingsworth had spotted an undetermined sum of money inside
the wallet of Spears at a BP gas station in Montevallo. Killingsworth and his convicted
accomplice, 16-year-old (at the time of the incident) Troy Connell followed the
Spears vehicle, and eventually drove beside it. Killingsworth then shot Spears through the window killing
the young man. The Spears vehicle
then crashed. Killingsworth and
his accomplice then approached Monica, who was already injured from the wreck
and beat her multiple times with a chain.
Prosecutors believe the chain assault was an attempt on her life. Monica did however survive the attack.
Strange commended Assistant Attorneys General Andrew
Arrington and John Hensley. He
also thanked and commended the work of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and
the Bibb County Sheriff’s Department for “outstanding work in preparing the
case for both trials.”
(Photo) Jimmy Lamar Killingsworth is escorted to jail by Bibb County Sheriff Keith Hannah in 2004 after being arrested for the murder of Steven Spears and attempted murder of Monica Spears.
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