Prosecution, defense rest in triple-murder trial

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - The prosecution and the defense rested their cases in the trial of a man accused of killing three people in Guntersville in 2018.

The jury will meet Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.

The prosecution started off the second week of a Guntersville murder trial with a two-hour audio recording of the 2018 interrogation of Jimmy Spencer.

Spencer is charged with seven counts of murder after allegedly killing three people in Guntersville in 2018. In the recording, Spencer goes into detail about what happened the evening of the deaths of Martha Reliford, Marie Martin, and Colton Lee.

Since the trial began, the prosecution claimed that Jimmy Spencer killed them in an effort to steal money to make ends meet. In the audio recording, Spencer says he was starving and forced to sleep on picnic tables. The prosecution says he was unemployed and homeless at the time.

Spencer goes on to explain that he went to Martha Reliford’s home to steal money. On the tape, he said when he realized Reliford could report him to the police, he made the decision to kill her.

Then, Spencer says he went across the street to take money from Marie Martin’s home. He says after stealing from her, he made the decision to kill her and her 7-year-old great-grandson.

Spencer goes into great detail about how he killed the neighbors in the recording.

In the courtroom, Spencer looked increasingly unsettled and his eyes filled with tears as he heard his words play to the jury members and family members sitting in court. The jurors were also visibly upset.

The interrogation was with Guntersville Police Officer Mike Turner. He was on the stand as the courtroom listened to the recording.

He said he picked up Spencer because he saw security footage of Spencer driving Martin’s car. He became more suspicious when Spencer kept changing his story.

If convicted, Spencer could face life in prison or even the death penalty.

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