Witness testimony continues in Guntersville murder trial

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Jimmy Spencer’s capital murder trial enters its second week on Monday. He’s accused of killing three people in Guntersville in 2018.

The prosecution is expected to call more witnesses to the stand this week.

On Friday, State Investigator Trooper Joe Parish described the crime scene at Martha Reliford’s house. She’s one of the three murder victims. Parish described a gruesome scene. He said he could smell something rotting from outside the house and when he entered he saw hundreds of bugs.

He said Reliford’s body was already decomposing by the time they arrived.

Family members were in the courtroom when prosecutors showed graphic photos of the crime scene and their loved ones. They really want closure in this case, especially after being involved with a civil case. Their civil attorney Tommy James says they decided to pursue a civil case because the state dropped the ball several times in Spencer’s case.

“He should’ve never been paroled, once he was out on parole it should have been revoked because he had so many run-ins with the law that were reported to the system,” James said.

“They had him in jail less than a month prior to this but because folks at the jail didn’t know he had other charges, he was out on parole when it should have been revoked so he was released from jail and that led to this tragedy.”

That civil case was settled in court.

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