For Immediate Release:
May 12, 2023
For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
Cameron Mixon (334) 242-7491
Attorney General Marshall Announces Court of Criminal Appeals Upholds Criminally Negligent Homicide DUI Conviction in Jefferson County
(MONTGOMERY)—Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction of Zorro Vontonnyae Sanders, age 59, of Tuscaloosa, for criminally negligent homicide, driving under the influence. Sanders was convicted in the Jefferson County Circuit Court on September 9, 2022.
The evidence at trial showed that on the evening of August 11, 2019, Sanders was observed driving on I-65 near Fultondale at approximately 100 miles per hour. Sanders hit a vehicle driven by the victim, Dewayne Hubbert, who had several passengers in the car with him. Hubbert was killed in the collision. Sanders told a state trooper that he had consumed between six and seven beers that night. Sanders failed numerous field sobriety tests and his blood alcohol content was .125 percent more than three hours after the accident. Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr’s office successfully prosecuted this case and obtained a guilty verdict. Sanders was sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment for his criminally negligent homicide DUI conviction. Sanders 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 Sanders’s conviction. The Court did so in a decision issued Friday, April 28, 2023.
Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Hunter Hamm for his successful work on this case and thanks District Attorney Danny Carr and his staff for their valuable assistance in defending the criminally negligent homicide DUI conviction.
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