FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
February 21, 2019
For More Information, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Steve Marshall
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
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Alabama Attorney General
Attorney General Steve Marshall Announces 16-Year Prison
Sentence of Bibb County Man for Hindering Prosecution
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that a Centreville
man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for helping his cousin evade capture after
murdering one woman and kidnapping and assaulting her sister. Gary Wade Rowland
was sentenced yesterday in Bibb County Circuit Court. Rowland was a habitual
offender with prior convictions for vehicular homicide and drug crimes.
Rowland’s cousin, John Barry Hubbard of Eoline, is serving a sentence of life
imprisonment without parole for the murder of Kandi Murphy during his abduction of
her sister, Tammy Carpenter. Hubbard had been in a relationship with Carpenter, the
murder victim’s sister. Carpenter had sought a protective order because she feared that
he would carry out his threats of violence.
Carpenter’s worst fears were realized on the afternoon of July 21, 2015, when her sister’s
children saw Hubbard come out of the woods carrying two guns and enter Carpenter’s
home in Brent. Hubbard shot Murphy multiple times in the presence of her toddler
daughter, and struck Carpenter with a firearm in the head to subdue and abduct her.
Murphy called 911 and stated, “John Barry Hubbard shot me” and that she was dying.
When officers arrived, Murphy told them that Hubbard had shot her. She was taken to
a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Afterward, Hubbard took Carpenter from Bibb County into the Ocmulgee National
Forest in Hale County, where he held her against her will and raped and sodomized
her. The next morning, he called his family to help him escape and Gary Wade Rowland
came to his cousin’s aid.
Rowland admitted later that he knew Hubbard was wanted for capital murder after
killing Murphy, but nevertheless Rowland wanted to help him because he was family.
Rowland came and transported Hubbard and Carpenter from the forest to a hotel in
Greene County, where Rowland had registered a room in his name. He also took and
hid a long gun on family property in Bibb County. Hubbard continued to terrorize
Carpenter, raping and sodomizing her again. After she was able to get a message to
501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
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staff at a nearby restaurant, an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency tactical team rescued
Carpenter and took Hubbard into custody on the evening of July 22.
“It is appropriate that Gary Wade Rowland now faces justice and will serve 16 years in
prison,” said Attorney General Marshall. “He had the opportunity to end John Barry
Hubbard’s torment of Tammy Carpenter, and instead he put family above human
decency and above the law. Rowland chose to help her tormentor. He made it possible
for his cousin to continue brutalizing Tammy Carpenter after Hubbard had coldly
murdered her sister Kandi Murphy. A civilized society cannot tolerate a crime such as
this.”
The Attorney General’s Criminal Trials Division presented evidence to a Bibb County
grand jury in December 2016, resulting in indictments against Hubbard and Rowland,
and prosecuted both cases.
Attorney General Marshall General commended those involved in bringing the cases to
a successful conclusion, noting in particular Assistant Attorneys General Andrew
Arrington and John Hensley of his Criminal Trials Division, Special Agents of his
Investigations Division, and Victims Service Officers Sarah Greene and Ashley Harbin.
He also thanked the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which led the investigation,
and Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade.
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