FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
September 22, 2014
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Alabama Attorney General
Claire Haynes (334) 242-7351
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AG STRANGE ANNOUNCES TALLADEGA COUNTY MURDER
CONVICTION IS UPHELD BY COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
(MONTGOMERY) –Attorney General Luther Strange announced that the
Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday upheld the murder conviction of Corry
R. Averett. Averett, 34, of Sylacauga, was convicted in Talladega County Circuit Court
in September of 2013 for the murder of Desmond Anderson.
Evidence was presented at trial that on November 11, 2004, Averett visited his
friend Randi Holland and asked to borrow her car, which was a bluish-green vehicle.
Averett promised that he would return the car later that night and Holland agreed to let
him borrow the car. That same night, Carlita Cook drove her boyfriend, Desmond
Anderson, to meet someone in Birmingham, and then dropped Anderson at his home in
Sylacauga around 10 p.m. About an hour later, Cook returned to Anderson’s house and
saw a green car parked outside. When Cook went inside the house, she saw a “tall dark
male” with Anderson. Anderson took Cook into his bedroom and told her to telephone
the police if she heard anything. After a few minutes of waiting in the bedroom, Cook
“heard a scuffle” followed by gunshots. Cook hid in a small closet and waited “for a
minute” before running out of the house and driving away in her car. As she was
leaving, Cook noticed that the green car was gone.
A neighbor of Anderson testified that he was awakened by gunshots on the night
of the incident. He went outside and discovered that Anderson was lying in the street,
dead. An autopsy on Anderson indicated that he had been shot multiple times.
Averett returned the car the next morning to Holland. When Holland asked
Averett why he did not bring her car back the night before, he eventually told Holland
that he had gone to visit a man that owed him $3,500. Holland testified that Averett said
that he shot the man after the man punched him and tried to escape. Averett said after
he shot the man, the man got up to run away and Averett shot him again and then ran
him over with Holland’s car. Averett told Holland that he lost his cell phone. The
phone was found at the scene.
In 2011, while awaiting trial, Averett had a conversation with a federal inmate in
which he admitted to killing a man in Sylacauga and gave specific details of the
murder. Averett separately told another inmate about the murder. Averett told the
inmate that his victim had hired him to kill someone else in exchange for 36 ounces of
cocaine. Averett said that when he returned to his victim’s house to collect his payment,
501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
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the victim was only willing to give him nine ounces of cocaine. So, Averett said that he
“killed [the victim] and took all the drugs that he had and left him on the curb dead.”
The case was prosecuted at trial by Talladega County District Attorney Steve
Giddens’ office. The trial court sentenced Averett to life imprisonment, and Averett
subsequently sought to have his conviction reversed on appeal.
The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled the 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 on Friday, September 19.
Attorney General Strange commended Assistant Attorney General Michael Dean
of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division for his successful work in this
case.
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