Eight years ago a man murdered five people – one of them pregnant – for which he received the death penalty, which he contested for several years, but now he himself requested that his sentence be served, as he believes that upon being executed The families of his victims will get justice.
Derrick Dearman said in an interview with NBC that he sent nine letters to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Attorney General Steve Marshall, as well as judges and others involved in the case, informing them that He will abandon his appeals and wants to be executed.
“Now is the time for the victims and their families to get the justice they deserve to begin closure,” said the 36-year-old, who said he was at peace with his decision.
Likewise, he reported that The appeals were made for his family, as they asked him to fight for his life to have it more time, which it gave them in more than six years of appeals.
Dearman has not yet communicated his decision to his victims’ families, but plans to do so through letters. They were the ones he decided not to pursue with the appeals, as he has spent many sleepless nights wondering what he would say to them if he had the opportunity.
“That’s part of the reason I made the decision to carry out my sentence. Words have no weight in this situation. The only thing I would say is that everyone who was hurt by the actions forgive menot for me, but for them. That way, they will free their heart to truly heal.”
Just two months ago the Alabama Supreme Court denied his request to appeal his sentence and upheld his six murder convictions, which he received because one of the victims, 22-year-old Chelsea Marie Reed, was five months pregnant.
This is because Alabama has a fetal homicide law that applies to any stage of pregnancy.
The Dearman Crimes
On August 20, 2016, Dearman broke into a bungalow outside rural Citronelle, Alabama. He was armed with an ax and firearms.
Had used methamphetaminehe came there because his ex-girlfriend Laneta Lester He had taken refuge in his brother’s house. Out of her mind she attacked the victims while they slept: Shannon Melissa Randall, 35; Robert Lee Brown, 26; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23, and Joseph Adam Turner, 26.
After the murders, he kidnapped Darren and his three-month-old son with Turner, and fled to his father’s home across the border in Leakesville.
The kidnapping victims were released, they arrived at the Lakesville police station and narrated what happened, meanwhile the effect of the drugs wore off for the murderer, who He realized what he had done and turned himself in to the authorities..
Dearman said he struggled with addiction since he was a teenager, adding that drugs turned him into a monsterbecause in his five senses he had never committed any crime.
As time passed, the more I reflected on what I was doing, because I was still in shock about what had happened.
At the first hearing, he pleaded not guilty to six counts of capital murder and two counts of kidnapping, something he did for his family, he said.
Two years after the murders, the man fired his lawyers, pleaded guilty, but under Alabama law a jury had to try him.
This will be his death
Dearman opted for lethal injection to serve his sentence. When asked if he was afraid of death, he responded yes and no, because knows that there have been failed executions in the state and even some prisoners have survived them.
But at the same time he considers that death is better than spending the rest of his life in a prison system that he considers failed. Although that was not what motivated him to make his decision.
“I made this decision for different reasons. One of those reasons is so that all parties involved, not just the victims and their families, but my family as well, can get closure and begin to heal and move forward.”
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