FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
February 12, 2018
For More Information, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Steve Marshall
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 2
Alabama Attorney General
ATTORNEY GENERAL STEVE MARSHALL ANNOUNCES COURT OF CRIMINAL
APPEALS UPHOLDS MOBILE COUNTY CAPITAL MURDER CONVICTION
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the Alabama
Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the capital murder conviction of Alwin Javon
Tillman. Tillman, 37, of Mobile, was convicted in Mobile County Circuit Court in
February of 2017 for the murder of Ronnie Minifield.
Evidence presented at trial showed that at about 2 a.m. on July 27, 2014, Tillman
climbed up to the apartment balcony of his estranged wife, Octavia Tillman, and broke
into her apartment by breaking a window to unlock the balcony door. Tillman entered
the bedroom, where he saw her with the victim, and he opened fire at both of them.
Tillman hit Minifield with four shots, and Minifield died at the scene.
The case was prosecuted at trial by Mobile County District Attorney Ashley
Richís office. Tillman was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole, and he subsequently sought to have his conviction reversed on
appeal alleging that he was entitled to a self-defense jury instruction. The Attorney
General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled Tillmanís case during the appeals
process, arguing for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm the conviction.
The Court did so in a decision issued Friday, February 9, holding that Tillman was the
initial aggressor and was not entitled to a self-defense jury instruction.
Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Yvonne
Saxon of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division for her successful work in
this case.
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501 Washington Avenue ? Montgomery, AL 36104 ? (334) 242-7300
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