Alabama executed Derrick Dearman on Thursday for a 2016 crime spree that left five people dead. Dearman, 36, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at Holman prison at 6:14 p.m.
He had pleaded guilty to the brutal murders and chose to drop his appeals earlier this year, stating in an April letter to the court, “I am guilty,” and expressing that prolonging his case was unfair to the victims’ families.
Attorney General Steve Marshall emphasized that the execution was necessary for justice and closure for the victims’ families. The horrific nature of the crime was noted, with Dearman described as having attacked his victims with an ax and then executed them with a gun, leaving them to suffer.
The victims included Shannon Melissa Randall, Joseph Adam Turner, Robert Lee Brown, Justin Kaleb Reed, and Chelsea Marie Reed, the latter being pregnant at the time of her murder.
The incident occurred in Citronelle, Alabama, when Dearman broke into a home where his estranged girlfriend had taken refuge after he had been abusive.
Following the murders, he forced his girlfriend to drive him to Mississippi before surrendering to authorities. Initially pleading not guilty, he later changed his plea to guilty and received a death sentence.
Dearman had been on death row since 2018. In the hours before his execution, he spent time with family, including his sons and father, and had a final meal of seafood. His execution was part of a series of executions planned for this year in Alabama, with varying methods employed.