A Mobile County jury has found Brandon Estle guilty of murder in the death of Justin Hasty, a former high school classmate, capping a trial that laid bare a drug-fueled tragedy inside a downtown Government Plaza courtroom.
A Brutal Killing
Prosecutors said Estle, then 26, admitted he wielded an aluminum baseball bat that crushed Hasty’s skull. Estle acknowledged striking Hasty but claimed self-defense, telling jurors Hasty had hit him first and that he feared for his life when he saw a handgun. Investigators described a scene of extreme violence inside the small shotgun house where Hasty lived and died.
After the beating, Estle folded Hasty’s body into a plastic storage container, loaded it into his truck, and dumped it in a cotton field southwest of the city, firing rounds from Hasty’s own handgun into the box, according to testimony.
Drug Ties and a Guilty Verdict
Both men were entangled in the local drug trade. Hasty had been discharged from the Marine Corps over drug violations and was moving marijuana, while Estle supported a cocaine habit and traded with his old friend for the drug. Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich urged jurors not to excuse the killing by blaming the substances, and the jury returned a guilty verdict.
Presiding Circuit Judge Charles Graddick, addressing the courtroom after the verdict, pointed to drugs as the root of the case’s evil. Rich later acknowledged that Estle’s retrieval of Hasty’s cash had gone undiscovered until he took the stand; had prosecutors known, the charge could have been capital murder with the death penalty on the table.
What Comes Next
Estle faces a likely sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced later this summer. The case underscored the human cost of the drug trade that has touched families across the Mobile area.