Jury Selection Begins in Reuben Gulley Murder Trial in 2022 Shooting of Randon Lee, Son of ‘Mama Tot’
Jury selection began Monday in Mobile for Reuben Thomas Gulley, accused of killing 18-year-old Randon Lee at a Prichard gas station in 2022. Prosecutors rejected a weekend plea offer from the defense.
MOBILE, Ala. — More than four years after 18-year-old Randon Lee was shot to death at a Prichard gas station, the man accused of killing him is standing trial in Mobile.
The first steps of jury selection began Monday morning, Nov. 2, in Mobile County Circuit Court in the murder case against Reuben Thomas Gulley. Opening statements were expected Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.
Lee was the son of social media personality Ophelia Nichols, known online as “Mama Tot.” Law enforcement investigators have described the June 24, 2022, shooting as a drug deal gone wrong.
What investigators allege
According to preliminary reports, Lee was sitting in his vehicle at the First Stop gas station in Prichard when Gulley allegedly got in during a planned marijuana sale. After a single gunshot, Gulley allegedly fled with a handgun as Lee tried to drive away. Lee made it across the street to another gas station, where he died.
Gulley is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. If convicted of murder, he could spend at least 20 years or the rest of his life in prison.
A rejected plea deal, then a rejected offer
The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office said Gulley’s defense team approached prosecutors over the weekend with an offer to plead guilty. Prosecutors rejected it.
That offer came nearly a year after Gulley turned down a deal from prosecutors that would have allowed him to plead guilty to manslaughter rather than murder. Under that agreement, prosecutors would have recommended 17 more years in custody, in addition to the three years he had already served without bond, and would have dropped separate drug charges.
At the time, defense attorney Chase Dearman told Mobile County Circuit Judge Michael Windom that he had advised his client to accept the deal. Windom warned Gulley that no plea would be allowed after that date and that the case would proceed to trial.
A witness held in jail
The trial includes an unusual subplot. One witness ordered to testify has spent months in jail awaiting the proceedings.
Jakyrus Ronald Williams, 25, was held in the Baldwin County Jail on a warrant issued after he failed to appear at an earlier court date in Gulley’s case. Williams told Windom he missed court because he was working out of town and did not have a ride back to Mobile.
In September, Windom denied his written request to be released on electronic monitoring until trial, even though Williams had already been cleared for release on unrelated misdemeanor drug charges.
