FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
September 6, 2018
For More Information, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Steve Marshall
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
Alabama Attorney General
AG Steve Marshall Announces Court of Criminal Appeals
Upholds Sumter County Capital Murder Conviction
(MONTGOMERY) Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the Alabama
Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday upheld the capital murder conviction and life
without parole sentence of Damon Lake.
Lake, 25, was convicted in Sumter County Circuit Court in May 2017 for the murder of
Terrell Brown on April 6, 2013. During an attempted robbery, Lake beat Brown to death
with a metal pipe. Lake, who was 19 when he murdered Brown, claimed that he had
diminished capacity as though he were under the age of 18, and therefore, should have
been in the same protected class as juveniles covered by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling
in Miller v. Alabama, which prohibits mandatory sentences of life without parole for
defendants under 18. The Court of Criminal Appeals found that because Lake was 19
when he murdered Brown, the Miller decision was inapplicable to his case, and
therefore, his sentence was not cruel and unusual.
The office of Sumter County District Attorney Greg Griggers prosecuted the case in
circuit court. The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division defended the
conviction on appeal urging the Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm the conviction.
Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Madeline Lewis for
her successful work in this case.
–30–
501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
