Roderick Byrd And Brandon Mitchell Murder 3

Roderick Byrd and Brandon Mitchell were sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for a triple murder

According to court documents Roderick Byrd and Brandon Mitchell would shoot Kim Olney, 28; John Aylesworth, 42; and Dorothy Smith, 58, at the Airport Inn in Birmingham killing all three

When Roderick Byrd and Brandon Mitchell were arrested they each blamed the other as being the gunman. Regardless both would be convicted and sentenced to death

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Roderick Byrd and Brandon Mitchell Case

At trial, the State’s evidence tended to show the following. On November 24, 2005, Thanksgiving Day, Brandon Mitchell went to Byrd’s sister, Hellena Byrd’s apartment in Birmingham, Alabama, where Roderick Byrd and Jonathan Floyd also lived. Mitchell woke Byrd and enlisted Byrd’s and Floyd’s aid in his plan to commit a robbery at the Airport Inn (hereinafter “the Inn”). After agreeing to help Mitchell commit the robbery, Byrd returned to his bedroom and put on a black shirt, black pants, and black shoes. Shortly thereafter, Floyd drove Mitchell and Byrd to the Inn in Floyd’s automobile.

According to Byrd’s statement, while they were in the parking lot of the Inn, Mitchell, Floyd, and Byrd discussed the robbery. At some point before entering the Inn, Byrd put on a pair of black gloves to prevent leaving physical evidence of his participation in the crime; however, neither he nor Mitchell, who had previously been employed at the Inn, made any attempt to conceal their facial identities.¹ Thereafter, Mitchell and Byrd entered the Inn-each armed with one pistol-and encountered Kim Olney, the desk clerk, and John Aylesworth, a truck driver, who was waiting in the lobby for a ride to Texas.

Once in the Inn, Mitchell focused his attention on Olney while Byrd used his pistol to subdue Aylesworth, a former Marine. At some point during the robbery, Dorothy Smith, a traveler from New York who was in Alabama visiting family for Thanksgiving, entered the lobby of the Inn to rent a room for the night. After she entered the lobby, Smith, like Olney and Aylesworth, was held at gunpoint. During this time, Mitchell took approximately $300 from a cash drawer that was located behind the clerk’s desk and also tried unsuccessfully to open a safe. Mitchell and Byrd also took various items from the three victims, including a tote bag, a duffel bag, clothes, and money. During these events, Olney, Aylesworth, and Smith were each shot behind the ear at close range with .38 caliber pistols.² Olney was also shot in the arm. All three victims died as result of a gunshot wound to the head. Forensic testing of the projectiles recovered from the crime scene and the victims’ bodies established that Olney and Smith were shot with the same .38 caliber pistol and that Aylesworth was shot with a different .38 caliber pistol.

After the robbery, Mitchell and Byrd left the Inn on foot. They traveled around to the back of the Inn and climbed a fence that separated the Inn from a neighborhood. Clifford Davis and James Jackson, who lived in one of the houses behind the Inn, saw two men, carrying various items, climb the fence and enter the neighborhood. Although Davis and Jackson could not make a positive identification, they testified that one of the two men they saw climb the fence was wearing all black, including black shoes. Davis and Jackson testified that after the two men climbed the fence and entered the neighborhood, they went in different directions.

Shortly after Mitchell and Byrd separated, Mitchell telephoned Floyd and asked Floyd to come pick him up. Floyd found Mitchell near First Avenue in Birmingham and drove Mitchell to Fifth Avenue South. Floyd dropped Mitchell off on Fifth Avenue and then drove around looking for Byrd. After unsuccessfully searching for Byrd, Floyd returned to Hellena Byrd’s apartment where he found Byrd crying and shaking. At that point, Byrd made a statement to Floyd indicating that Mitchell shot all three people at the Inn.

Floyd and Byrd remained at the apartment for approximately 30 minutes. Then they, along with Hellena Byrd and Byrd’s girlfriend, Lasundra Mosley, went to Byrd’s grandmother’s house, where they ate Thanksgiving dinner.

At some point after Thanksgiving, Byrd went to Georgia where he was apprehended. While in Georgia at the Henry County jail, Byrd gave a statement to two Birmingham police officers in which he confessed to participating in the robbery, but denied any involvement in the murders.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1407284.html