The homeless convict charged in the killing of three people in a Guntersville home - including a 7-year-old-boy - was a known violent offender just out of prison, and the state's largest victims' advocacy group is outraged that he was on the streets.
Janette Grantham, director of Victims of Crime and Leniency, on Wednesday lashed out at the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles for its handling of the case of Jimmy O'Neal Spencer.
Spencer, 52, is charged with capital murder in the July 13 deaths of Martha Dell Reliford, 65, Marie Kitchens Martin, 74, and Martin's great-grandson, Colton Ryan Lee. Authorities said Spencer strangled and stabbed Martin before taking off with an undisclosed amount of cash. Lee, they said, died from blunt force trauma.
The boy and his great-grandmother were found dead that Friday at her Mulberry Street home. Reliford - also killed by blunt force trauma - was found dead in her home across the street the same night. Investigators said she was hit with the flat side of a hatchet, stabbed and also robbed.
According to court records and authorities, Spencer first went to prison in the early 1980s on a burglary conviction. In the years to come, he would be arrested again and again and ultimately sentenced to life. Those crimes all happened in Franklin County.
He escaped from prison in 1993 and was charged with more property crime crimes that took place while he was on the run. According to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, Spencer was granted parole in November 2017, and released from prison in January. From there, he went to a halfway house in Birmingham. Spencer then met a man from Marshall County and ended up in Guntersville in April.
Investigators said the convict was homeless - sleeping on park benches or in ditches and occasionally staying at local shelters.
"According to Alabama law, he is a violent offender and had a life sentence and a long criminal background. He had been paroled once before, and within months his parole was revoked because he committed a new crime,'' Grantham said. "The last parole board denied his parole in 2013. Franklin County DA Joey Rushing sent a strong protest letter stating he was dangerous. A victim also sent a protest letter. These letters should have remained in his file for the current board to consider."
"Why was he paroled four years later in 2017 by a different parole board? DA Rushing would have sent another strong protest letter if he had received his notice for the November hearing,'' Grantham said.
She said VOCAL purchased a Board Action Sheet and learned Pardons and Parole Board Members Cliff Walker, chairman, and Terry Davis, who is no longer on the board, paroled Spencer to Life Tech - a six-month on-site transition course and both checked the "low to medium risk of re-offending'' box for Spencer.
"If he was sent to Life Tech as stated, the earliest date he could have been released was in the May-June 2018 time frame. If he failed to complete Life Tech, he should have been returned to prison as his parole should have been revoked,'' Grantham said. "Yet he was seen in January in the Marshall County area. How is that possible?"
Grantham also said every released inmate must have a qualified home plan and a support base before they are released. "Sleeping on a park bench is not a home plan,'' she said. "In addition, every released inmate must also have employment lined up. Homeless is not a job plan."
Spencer was arrested on June 15, 2018 in Boaz for possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest, and attempting to elude a police officer. His bond was set at $3,000. "His parole should have been revoked,'' Grantham said. "Yet a month later he was still free to murder three innocent victims."
Officials at the Board of Pardons and Paroles didn't immediately return to a request for comment on Grantham's press release. She said she called the board last week with her questions and was told the Board had asked for an investigation on Spencer's parole.
Among those questions:
-What made this inmate good for parole when the prior board did not parole him?
-Was Jimmy O'Neal paroled to Life Tech as stated on the Board Action sheet?
-Did he go to Life Tech?
-Did he complete the 6 months on-site course?
-If not, was his parole revoked?
-Why not?
-Was he returned to prison?
-Did he have a home plan?
-What was the plan?
-Did he have a support base?
-If so, who?
-Did he have a job plan?
-If so, what was his job plan?
-If not, why was he released without a job and home plan?
-Who was supervising his release as required by law?
-Why was his parole not revoked when he committed new crimes in June?
Grantham questioned why the board is paroling violent offenders with life sentences. She said a recent inmate had six life sentences - yet he was paroled. Just last week, she said. an inmate with a life sentence who stabbed his victim 27 times was released. "How do you stab someone 27 times and still be paroled,'' she said. "These individuals were denied by the previous parole board."
"Maybe one day we will have answers. Regardless, it is too late for Marie Kitchens Martin, Colton Lee, and Martha Reliford,'' she said. "Their fate was sealed the day the two Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles members check marked the Parole Guidelines."
"What is not questionable is the fact that this recent parolee brutally murdered a little 7-year old boy who loved John Deer tractors, a 74-year-old great-grandmother who was spending a few days with her great-grandson; a victim advocate - one of our own - Martha Reliford,'' she said. "Martha only had a few months to live due to cancer."
As for how that happened, Grantham said this: "Paroles of violent offenders are being released by check marks on data driven parole guidelines. Two board members made a couple of check marks and here we are,'' she said. "Regardless of why Spencer was paroled, we know it was a terrible, terrible decision. A decision that was deadly."