AG Marshall announces court decision to uphold 2005 triple murder conviction in Jefferson County
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Special to the News
Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Roderick Byrd’s challenge to his capital murder conviction and death sentence.
Byrd was convicted in the Jefferson County Circuit Court of capital murder and sentenced to death on August 17, 2007.
The evidence showed that on Thanksgiving Day in 2005, Byrd and his friend Brandon Mitchell robbed the Airport Inn in Birmingham. Byrd and Mitchell entered the motel armed with pistols and did nothing to conceal their faces from the security cameras.
During the robbery, Kim Olney, John Aylesworth and Dorothy Smith were shot in the back of the head. Byrd and Mitchell then fled the scene.
After eating Thanksgiving dinner at his grandmother’s house, Byrd went to Georgia, where he was apprehended.
Byrd was charged with four counts of capital murder – three for murdering each victim during the course of a robbery, and one for murdering two or more people pursuant to one course of conduct. The jury found Byrd guilty of all four counts and recommended death, and the trial judge accepted that recommendation. Byrd’s convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal.
In 2012, Byrd filed a petition for postconviction relief, challenging his convictions and death sentences. Over 10 years, the case was reassigned to different judges in the Jefferson Circuit Court, but it was eventually dismissed in 2023. Byrd appealed to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed the dismissal on March 27, 2026.
Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Polly Kenny and the Capital Litigation Division for the successful work on the case.