A Mobile County jury has convicted two people of felony murder in connection with the 2013 shooting death of a U.S. Coast Guardsman outside a Mobile motel, closing out a case that drew close attention from local prosecutors and residents alike.
The victim, a 31-year-old Coast Guardsman stationed in the Mobile area, was killed during a confrontation in the parking lot of a motel off Interstate 65 in March 2013. According to testimony presented during the week-long trial in Mobile County Circuit Court, the encounter began after the Guardsman met one of the defendants, who had arranged to meet him through an online advertisement.
Prosecutors told the jury that a dispute over money escalated quickly once the group walked out to the Guardsman’s vehicle. A struggle broke out, and a firearm belonging to one of the defendants fell to the ground. Surveillance video from the motel, shown to jurors during the trial, captured part of the altercation. The Guardsman was fatally shot, and one of the defendants was also wounded during the struggle before both fled the scene.
According to prosecutors, the pair drove first to Pensacola, Florida, where one sought treatment at a hospital under a false name, before continuing on to Georgia. They were later apprehended and returned to Mobile County to face charges.
During closing arguments, the Mobile County District Attorney’s office urged jurors to reject any suggestion that the victim’s decisions that night justified what happened to him. Defense attorneys for both defendants offered a different account of the confrontation, arguing that the Guardsman had been the aggressor inside the motel room before the situation spilled into the parking lot.
After deliberating on the evidence, the jury found both defendants guilty of felony murder. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for the following month in Mobile County Circuit Court.
The case drew significant attention in Mobile, both for the circumstances surrounding the victim’s death and for the extensive investigative work by local law enforcement and prosecutors to track down the defendants after they left the state. It stands as one of several major felony trials handled by the Mobile County District Attorney’s office that year, reflecting the ongoing caseload faced by the county’s courts and law enforcement agencies.
Coast Guard officials in the Mobile sector, home to a significant Coast Guard presence tied to the Gulf Coast’s maritime industry, did not issue additional public comment on the case beyond acknowledging the loss of one of their own. The verdict brought a measure of closure to a case that had unfolded over nearly two years within the Mobile County court system.