14th Update: Alabama Teenager Murders - McCraney Guilty!
Apr 26, 2023 14:53:51 GMT -5
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Post by Graveyardbride on Apr 26, 2023 14:53:51 GMT -5
Coley McCraney Guilty on Four Counts of Capital Murder
Yesterday (Tuesday, April 25), at 11:45 a.m., the jury began deliberating in the trial of Coley McCraney for the murders of teenagers JB Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, and today, the six-man, four-woman panel returned with a verdict of guilty.
Multiple witnesses were called during the eight-day trial, and one of the most damaging to the defense turned out to be Jeanette McCraney, the Defendant’s wife, who was his girlfriend in 1999. She told the jury that on the night of July 31, McCraney’s car broke down at the Ozark convenience store where Tracie Hawlett called her mother around 11:30. Although Mrs. McCraney continued to proclaim her husband’s innocence, she admitted that on that night, her husband-to-be left home around 10 o’clock and did not return until close to 1 a.m.
McCraney, who took the stand in his own defense, claimed he and Ms. Beasley had met at the Wiregrass Commons Mall in Dothan approximately two months prior to the murders, and the two planned to meet at the gas station at 10 o’clock on the night of July 31. It was his testimony that Beasley was late and he went to his mother’s house to await her call, but the girl never contacted him.
He said that around 11:30, when he left his mother’s house, the alternator on his car “gave out” at the location where he saw the two teenagers at a pay phone. After talking with Beasley a few minutes, he got into her car and gave them directions to Highway 231. The girls then pulled into another service station next to the highway where McCraney had parked his semi-truck, and he and Beasley had consensual sex in the cab of said truck, after which the girls drove him home around 12:45.
The prosecution refuted his story, explaining to the jury that after using the pay phone, Beasley and Hawlett were approached by McCraney, who was armed with a 9mm. handgun. He forced his way into their vehicle and directed them to drive to the second location, where he raped Beasley. He then ordered them into the trunk of the Mazda 929, shot them dead, and drove the car to Herring Avenue. From there, he walked the short distance to his mother’s home on Lisenby Drive.
When McCraney was asked in court why he hadn’t admitted to knowing the girls or having consensual sex with Ms. Beasley at the time of his arrest, he claimed he was terrified.“When they put those cuffs on me,” he said, “I figured they had already made their minds up.”
Throughout the trial, McCraney’s defense team, headed by David Harrison, insisted the state had no evidence against McCraney other than his DNA. In both his opening and closing statements, Harrison asked, “Where is the evidence?”
McCraney was convicted on four counts of capital murder and the sentencing process is set to begin tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock.
Sources: Richard Everett and Aaron Dixon, WDHN, and Ken Curtis and Cassidy Lee, WTVY.
Yesterday (Tuesday, April 25), at 11:45 a.m., the jury began deliberating in the trial of Coley McCraney for the murders of teenagers JB Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, and today, the six-man, four-woman panel returned with a verdict of guilty.
Multiple witnesses were called during the eight-day trial, and one of the most damaging to the defense turned out to be Jeanette McCraney, the Defendant’s wife, who was his girlfriend in 1999. She told the jury that on the night of July 31, McCraney’s car broke down at the Ozark convenience store where Tracie Hawlett called her mother around 11:30. Although Mrs. McCraney continued to proclaim her husband’s innocence, she admitted that on that night, her husband-to-be left home around 10 o’clock and did not return until close to 1 a.m.
McCraney, who took the stand in his own defense, claimed he and Ms. Beasley had met at the Wiregrass Commons Mall in Dothan approximately two months prior to the murders, and the two planned to meet at the gas station at 10 o’clock on the night of July 31. It was his testimony that Beasley was late and he went to his mother’s house to await her call, but the girl never contacted him.
He said that around 11:30, when he left his mother’s house, the alternator on his car “gave out” at the location where he saw the two teenagers at a pay phone. After talking with Beasley a few minutes, he got into her car and gave them directions to Highway 231. The girls then pulled into another service station next to the highway where McCraney had parked his semi-truck, and he and Beasley had consensual sex in the cab of said truck, after which the girls drove him home around 12:45.
The prosecution refuted his story, explaining to the jury that after using the pay phone, Beasley and Hawlett were approached by McCraney, who was armed with a 9mm. handgun. He forced his way into their vehicle and directed them to drive to the second location, where he raped Beasley. He then ordered them into the trunk of the Mazda 929, shot them dead, and drove the car to Herring Avenue. From there, he walked the short distance to his mother’s home on Lisenby Drive.
When McCraney was asked in court why he hadn’t admitted to knowing the girls or having consensual sex with Ms. Beasley at the time of his arrest, he claimed he was terrified.“When they put those cuffs on me,” he said, “I figured they had already made their minds up.”
Throughout the trial, McCraney’s defense team, headed by David Harrison, insisted the state had no evidence against McCraney other than his DNA. In both his opening and closing statements, Harrison asked, “Where is the evidence?”
McCraney was convicted on four counts of capital murder and the sentencing process is set to begin tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock.
Sources: Richard Everett and Aaron Dixon, WDHN, and Ken Curtis and Cassidy Lee, WTVY.
