Christopher Hyde was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for three murders committed during a robbery
According to court documents Christopher Hyde would rob a funeral home and in the process would shoot and kill three people: Randle Lane, the Rev. Rick Peterson and June Williams
Christopher Hyde would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Christopher Hyde is incarcerated at Holman Prison
Christopher Hyde Case
On March 26, 2003, Archie Tingle discovered the bodies of Williams, Lane, and Peterson in the Bell Funeral Home in Sumiton. The forensic pathologist testified that all three victims died as a result of gunshot wounds. Williams and Peterson died from bullet wounds to the head. Lane died as a result of a bullet that entered his chin, exited through his neck, reentered his chest, and lacerated his aorta. Lane died of exsanguination-he bled to death.
Tingle testified that immediately before he discovered the bodies he observed a young white male riding a little red bicycle in the area around the funeral home. He saw the man walk from the funeral home to Peterson’s green pickup truck, put his bicycle in the back of the truck, and drive off. After the man left, Tingle went into the funeral home to see if Peterson had loaned the man his truck. Tingle discovered the three bodies and telephoned the police.
At the time of the murders Hyde was living in a mobile home with his step-father’s brother, Jerry Griffis, his wife, Angela, and their 10-year-old daughter. Their daughter had a little red bicycle that Hyde had started riding about five days before the murders. On the day of the murders, Angela Griffis said that Hyde asked if he could use her daughter’s bicycle. She said that he left the mobile home to go to the bus stop where her daughter had left the bicycle before getting on the bus to go to school. When he came back later that day, she said, he was riding the bicycle.
Cynthia Green testified that she was cleaning the Sumiton First Baptist Church on the morning of March 26, 2003, when she heard a loud knock on the door. She said that a young male, whom she identified at trial as Hyde, was at the door and asked to use the bathroom. She said that he had been riding a red bicycle. Green did not let Hyde enter the church and he left. The Sumiton First Baptist Church is near the Bell Funeral Home.
After discovering the bodies, police issued a be-on-the-lookout, “BOLO,” alert for Peterson’s green truck. The truck was discovered abandoned at a Texaco gasoline station. Behind the station was the trailer park where Hyde had been living with the Griffis family. Police conducted a search of the trailer park and spoke to some of the residents. Angela Griffis told police that Hyde had been picked up by his sister and had left the trailer park. Jerry Griffis said that after police left, he remembered that Hyde had earlier gone to the back porch, where they put their garbage. He searched through the four trash bags. In one bag Griffis discovered a gun, two billfolds belonging to the deceased male victims, and a set of keys. Forensic tests identified the gun as the gun used to murder all three victims.
The State’s evidence also showed that Hyde’s sister took Hyde to Birmingham and dropped him at the outskirts of town. Hyde went to the Greyhound bus station and purchased a ticket in his name to Atlanta, Georgia. Local authorities notified Atlanta law enforcement that he would be arriving in Atlanta on a particular bus and requested that they detain Hyde. Hyde was taken into custody as he left the bus in Atlanta. Investigator Frank Cole of the Walker County District Attorney’s Office and three law-enforcement personnel went to Atlanta to escort Hyde to Alabama. When the officers returned to Walker County with Hyde, they questioned him. Hyde confessed to killing Williams, Lane, and Peterson, and to taking Lane’s and Peterson’s wallets.
The jury convicted Hyde of three counts of capital murder for murdering Lane and Peterson during the course of a robbery and for murdering Williams, Lane, and Peterson pursuant to one act or pursuant to one course of conduct. A separate sentencing hearing was held before the same jury. The jury recommended, by a vote of 10 to 2, that Hyde be sentenced to death. The circuit court ordered that a presentence report be prepared. See § 13A-5-47(b), Ala.Code 1975. The court then held a separate sentencing hearing and sentenced Hyde to death. This appeal, which is automatic in a case involving the death penalty, followed. See § 13A-5-53, Ala.Code 1975.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1030648.html
