For Immediate Release:
July 3, 2023
For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
Cameron Mixon (334) 242-7491
(MONTGOMERY)—Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the convictions of Darren Jamahl Smith, 29, of Decatur, Alabama, for first-degree robbery and first-degree assault. Smith was convicted in the Morgan County Circuit Court on August 3, 2022.
The evidence at trial showed that on March 6, 2020, the victim drove to an apartment complex to help a friend move. Smith drove up and asked the victim to let him have fifteen dollars in exchange for thirty dollars later. When the victim refused, Smith got out of his car, pulled out a knife, and slashed the victim across his forehead and right ear. Smith contended that he got into an argument with the victim who threatened him instead of the other way around. The jury rejected Smith’s defense and found him guilty of first-degree robbery and first-degree assault.
Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson’s office successfully prosecuted this case and obtained the guilty verdicts. Smith was sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment for the robbery conviction and ten years’ imprisonment for the assault conviction. Smith sought to have his convictions reversed on appeal.
The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled the case during the appeals process, arguing for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm Smith’s convictions. The Court did so in a decision issued Friday, June 16, 2023.
Attorney General Marshall commends Assistant Attorney General Hunter Hamm for his successful work on this case and thanks District Attorney Scott Anderson and his staff for their valuable assistance in defending these convictions.
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