FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
April 26, 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 MARSHALL ANNOUNCES COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
UPHOLDS JEFFERSON COUNTY CAPITAL MURDER CONVICTION
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the Alabama
Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the capital murder conviction of Jeffery Tyrone
Riggs. Riggs, 48, of Birmingham, was convicted in Jefferson County Circuit Court in
February of 2015 for the murder of Norber Payne, a woman with whom he had
previously lived.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Riggs and Payne had previously lived
together at Payne’s apartment in a dating relationship, which Payne ended. In the early
morning hours of January 10, 2008, Riggs kicked in the back door of Payne’s residence,
went into Payne’s bedroom, shot her, and left the apartment the same way he entered.
A co-worker of Riggs testified that the morning of the murder, Riggs left several
messages on her voicemail saying that he was in trouble, had hurt someone, and
expressed fear that he might go to jail.
The case was prosecuted at trial by the Jefferson County District Attorney’s
office. Riggs was sentenced to serve a term of life imprisonment without the possibility
of parole and he subsequently sought to have his conviction reversed on appeal. The
Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled Riggs’s 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 Friday, April 20.
Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Michael
Nunnelley of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division for his successful work
in this case.
-30-
501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
