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Hicks given a life sentence
Published October 30, 2009
Jackson County Circuit John Graham sentenced convicted murderer Braxton Lynn Hicks Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Graham honored a plea agreement reached on Oct. 12 between Hicks and the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office.
A few members of the victims’ families appeared for the sentencing hearing, along with members of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
Hicks pleaded guilty to capital murder in the 2006 beating deaths of Benny Cameron, 73, and Mary Ann Allison, 71.
When asked by Graham if he had any comments prior to be sentenced, Hicks answered, “no sir.”
In 2005, Hicks was hired as a handyman by Cameron and Allison and later moved into an adjoining property to the couple’s home.
According to court records, Hicks assisted the couple in handling odd jobs.
Robbery appeared to be the apparent motive in the slayings.
Hicks was seen in a truck belonging to the victims and also withdrew over $9,000 from their bank accounts.
Several witnesses in Stevenson described Hicks appearing in the truck and purchasing abnormally large amounts of crack cocaine from multiple drug dealers, and also possessing unusually large amounts of cash.
The bodies of the victims were found in the Alabama Barber Shop in downtown Bridgeport. Autospy reports concluded the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
During his time in the Jackson County Jail since October, 2006, Hicks told a fellow inmate that he was not under the influence of drugs at the time of the killing, that the people owed him money and that he just took what was his, according to court records.
The sentencing of Hicks took only a matter of minutes, due to the plea agreement. It was stated during the trial that he chose to plead guilty to relieve the victims’ families and his own family of the trial.
Even though he plead guilty, by Alabama law, a jury still had to reach a verdict.
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