FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
April 25, 2018
For More Information, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Steve Marshall
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 2
Alabama Attorney General
AG STEVE MARSHALL ANNOUNCES COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
UPHOLDS TALLADEGA COUNTY CAPITAL MURDER CONVICTIONS
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the Alabama
Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the capital murder convictions of Charles
Andrew Joseph Hendrix. Hendrix, 27, of Birmingham, was convicted in Talladega
County Circuit Court in May of 2017 for three counts of capital murder relating to the
contract for hire murder of Sylacauga attorney Blake Lazenby.
Evidence was presented at trial that Hendrix participated in killing Lazenby in a
murder-for-hire agreement. The man who initiated the murder-for hire, Ernest “L.A.”
Files told another man, Charles “Boobie” Haynes, that he was looking for someone to
kill Lazenby for $40,000. Haynes told the defendant in this appeal, Hendrix, and others
about the murder-for-hire offer. Hendrix, willingly and without hesitation, agreed to
participate in the murder for a portion of the $40,000.
On July 27, 2011, Hendrix and an accomplice, Ocie Lynch, committed the
physical act of murdering Lazenby. The two men hid and waited for Lazenby to arrive
at his home, and then confronted the victim in his driveway. Lazenby was able to get
inside his kitchen when Lynch, who was still outside, shot him in the face through the
glass storm door with a .38 pistol. Lazenby fell by the door and the killers pushed their
way inside. When they discovered that Lazenby was alive, Lynch shot Lazenby in the
face but this did not kill him. Determined to kill Lazenby, Lynch asked Hendrix to hand
him a knife that was in the kitchen. Hendrix did so and Lynch cut Lazenby’s throat,
resulting in Lazenby bleeding to death. Hendrix and Lynch subsequently stole
Lazenby’s vehicle and drove to Birmingham where they burned it. Hendrix and Lynch
also stole Lazenby’s wallet, I.D. and cellular telephone.
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Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens prosecuted the case against
Hendrix (the defendant in this appeal), resulting in the jury finding Hendrix guilty of
three counts of capital murder: murder for pecuniary gain, pursuant to a contract for
hire; murder committed during a first-degree burglary; and, murder committed during
a first-degree robbery. Hendrix was sentenced to serve a term of life imprisonment
without the possibility of parole for each conviction and subsequently sought to have
his convictions reversed on appeal. The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division
defended the verdicts on appeal before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. That
Court issued an opinion on Friday, April 20, affirming Hendrix’s capital murder
convictions.
The others who participated in the murder-for-hire also were prosecuted by
District Attorney Giddens and convicted. Lynch, the man who committed the physical
act of the killing along with Hendrix, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to
life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Files, the man who hired Lynch and
Hendrix, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without
the possibility of parole. Haynes, who was the go-between in arranging the murder-for-
hire, testified for the State and ultimately pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced
to life imprisonment.
Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Beth Slate
Poe of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division for her successful work in this
case.
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