FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
April 28, 2016
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
AG STRANGE ANNOUNCES COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS UPHOLDS
MONTGOMERY CAPITAL MURDER, ATTEMPTED MURDER CONVICTIONS
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Luther Strange announced that the Alabama
Court of Criminal Appeals last Friday upheld the capital murder and attempted-murder
convictions of Walter Terrance Miles. Miles, 22, of Montgomery, was convicted in
Montgomery County Circuit Court in August of 2015 for the murder of Rickey Verbin
Farris and the attempted murder of Joshua Hopper.
Evidence presented at trial showed that on the evening of December 15, 2013, Miles
was riding in the front passenger side of a vehicle that blocked the Chevrolet Tracker
driven by Farris and in which Hopper was a passenger. Miles confronted them and began
shooting. Several of the bullets struck Farris and caused his death. Hopper was also shot
twice.
The case was prosecuted at trial by Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl
Bailey’s office. Miles was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the
capital murder conviction, and to life imprisonment for the attempted-murder conviction.
The circuit judge ordered the sentences to run consecutively. Miles subsequently sought to
have his convictions reversed on appeal.
The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Section 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, April 22.
Attorney General Strange commended Assistant Attorney General Laura Cuthbert
of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Section for her successful work in this case.
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501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
