A 19-year-old Mobile woman entered a guilty plea in Mobile County Circuit Court to attempted murder and burglary charges connected to a violent 2014 home invasion in Chickasaw that left an elderly resident seriously injured.
The defendant had been scheduled to stand trial on the morning she instead chose to enter a blind plea, meaning prosecutors will not recommend a specific sentence when she appears before the judge next month. She faces a minimum of 20 years and up to life in prison on each charge.
According to prosecutors, the defendant and two co-defendants broke into an 86-year-old man’s home on 11th Avenue in Chickasaw in January 2014. The victim was beaten and stabbed multiple times during the attack, and the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office said items including a television, a wedding band and a cordless phone were taken from the home. The stolen television was later found left behind in the yard.
The attack was interrupted when a neighbor came to the home to borrow butter and encountered the scene, prosecutors said. The victim was hospitalized and, weeks later, died at a Mobile hospital, though authorities determined his death was unrelated to the injuries sustained in the beating.
When the judge asked the defendant if she wished to make a statement after entering her plea, she offered only a brief remark describing the case as a lesson learned. Prosecutors argued for the maximum sentence, describing the crime as a brutal attack on a vulnerable, well-regarded member of the Chickasaw community who was targeted inside his own home.
A family member who attended the hearing said relatives were hopeful for a lengthy sentence but expressed confidence in the handling of the case by the court and prosecutors throughout the process.
Charges remain pending against the two co-defendants, a 20-year-old Chickasaw man and a 21-year-old Mobile man, both of whom still face trial on attempted murder counts in the coming months. The case has drawn attention in the Chickasaw community as a reminder of the vulnerability of elderly residents to targeted home invasions, and local officials have used it to encourage neighbors to look out for one another, particularly in the wake of unexpected visitors or unfamiliar activity around elderly residents’ homes.