Michael Sockwell was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for a murder for hire of Isaiah Harris
According to court documents Michael Sockwell and Alex Hood were paid a hundred dollars to murder Isaiah Harris. The murder for hire was set in place by Isaiah Harris wife Louise Harris who wanted to get rid of her husband in order to focus on her lover
Michael Sockwell and Louise Harris would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Louise Harris death sentence would be commuted to life in prison
Alex Hood received a life sentence
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Michael Sockwell Case
The record indicates that the appellant was involved in an affair with Lorenzo McCarter, a codefendant, while she was married to Harris. The appellant and Harris had experienced marital problems in the past, which the victim apparently believed he had solved when he promised to buy the appellant a house. The record indicates that the appellant asked McCarter to hire someone to kill her husband. McCarter approached a co-employee about doing ‘the job’; however, the co-employee refused and told his supervisor about the solicitation. McCarter then approached Michael Sockwell and Alex Hood, other codefendants, to commit the offense. McCarter knew that Sockwell owned a gun. Prior to the offense, the appellant met with the three men and was shown the gun. Sockwell and Hood were paid $ 100 in advance to commit the offense, with the promise that more money would be paid upon completion of the murder. The State presented evidence of the existence of various insurance policies on the victim’s life, with the appellant specified as the beneficiary.
“The victim, who worked the night shift as a jailer, left his home at approximately 11:00 p.m. to go to work, after being awakened by the appellant a little later than usual. Immediately after Harris left home, the appellant paged McCarter on his beeper, giving the message that her husband was leaving. There was evidence that the appellant had paged McCarter on his beeper many times in the past to arrange liaisons. When he received the message in the instant case, McCarter was seated in Hood’s car, located across the street from the entrance to the subdivision in which Harris and appellant lived. Also present in the car were Alex Hood and Freddie Patterson. Patterson was unaware of the conspiracy. Sockwell was hidden behind the hedge located at the entrance to the subdivision. Harris was driving to work in his own 1979 black Ford Thunderbird automobile. When Harris stopped at the stop sign at the entrance of the subdivision, Sockwell shot him once in the face at close range with a shotgun. As a result, the lower half of the victim’s face was blown off, leaving his teeth, tongue, and ‘matter’ from his face blown across the car. After the shot, the victim’s vehicle traveled slowly across the highway and came to a stop in a ditch.
“When the victim failed to arrive at work by 11:25 p.m., a co-employee telephoned his home twice and spoke with the appellant. There was testimony that the appellant offered no assistance and that her speech was slow or sluggish. Two men, returning from work, discovered the victim’s body shortly after midnight and telephoned the Montgomery Police Department. After the police arrived at the scene and identified the victim, several officers of the police department and employees of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department went to the house of the victim and the appellant to notify the appellant of the victim’s death. There was testimony that, upon being notified of the victim’s death, the appellant began screaming and sobbing, but she shed no tears. Moreover, she became completely calm instantly in order to answer questions. A member of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, who knew both the appellant and the victim, testified that she asked the appellant why she did not appear to be upset, and that the appellant responded that she and the victim had been experiencing marital problems for some time. She also told the witness that she had engaged in several extramarital affairs, the current one being with Lorenzo McCarter. The appellant stated that she was in love with McCarter. In response to questions asked by an investigator with the sheriff’s department, she responded that McCarter’s car was broken down in the vicinity, and when asked if McCarter could have killed the victim, the appellant responded, ‘If he did kill him I didn’t tell him to.’ At trial, McCarter elected to testify against the appellant, in exchange for the prosecutor’s promise not to seek the death penalty in his case.”
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1112971.html
