A Mobile man accused of touching off a chaotic gunfight during last year’s downtown New Year’s Eve celebration has pleaded guilty to murder rather than pursue a “Stand Your Ground” hearing that had been scheduled for the same day.
Thomas Earl Thomas Jr., 25, of Mobile, entered what is known as a “blind plea” to murder and first-degree assault, meaning prosecutors made no promise to recommend a lighter sentence in exchange. Mobile County Circuit Judge Vicki Davis has set sentencing for January, and Thomas faces a range of 20 years to life in prison.
The case stems from a shooting that broke out just before midnight on Dec. 31 on Dauphin Street, as thousands of revelers packed downtown Mobile to watch the MoonPie Drop. According to investigators, Thomas opened fire using a Glock switch, an illegal device that converts a semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic weapon, targeting a man identified as JaTerious Reives. A friend of Reives returned fire, and both men were wounded in the exchange. Seven bystanders who had no connection to the dispute were also struck by gunfire.
Thomas is already serving a 10-year federal sentence for illegally possessing the Glock switch used in the shooting.
Mobile County Chief Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Susman said the plea reflects prosecutors’ commitment to keeping downtown Mobile safe during major public gatherings. “We are committed to making sure that downtown Mobile is a fun and safe place to celebrate Mardi Gras and New Year’s Eve,” Susman said. “Thomas Thomas will be off the streets when that comes around.”
Susman pointed to the proliferation of Glock switches as a growing danger in Mobile County and beyond. “Glock switches have really changed the game,” she said. “They’re incredibly dangerous, and there’s all sorts of different legislation that’s been popping up all over the country trying to regulate this issue. But so long as kids have Glock switches, there really is no controlling the output of bullets, and it creates an extreme danger every time someone pulls a trigger on one of those.”
Earlier this year, the Alabama Legislature passed its own statewide ban on Glock switches, which carries a 10-year penalty for possession. Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood has cited the New Year’s Eve shooting directly as a reason the new law is necessary, though it was not immediately clear whether prosecutors used the new statute in Thomas’ case.
Natasha Reives, the mother of the man who died in the shooting, said she is now focused on the upcoming sentencing date of Jan. 12. “I just hope justice is done with sentencing,” she said.
Thomas had long maintained that he fired in self-defense, and the hearing scheduled for this week would have given him the chance to argue for dismissal under Alabama’s Stand Your Ground law. That statute allows a defendant to avoid prosecution if he can show he was lawfully present in a public place and that the other party was the aggressor. Defense attorney Chase Dearman said he still intends to raise those same issues as mitigating factors when Thomas is sentenced. “You probably want to be there for the sentencing,” Dearman said.