MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A state appeals court has upheld the capital murder convictions of a man sentenced to die for killing a friend in southeast Alabama six years ago.
The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals refused Friday to overturn the conviction of Justice Jerrell Knight in the killing of Jarvis Daffin in Henry County in 2012.
The decision says authorities found Daffin’s body with a gunshot wound to the head and arrested Knight. Evidence indicated the man was killed after cashing his tax refund check.
Knight argued in his appeal that jurors could have been turned against him because they saw him in jail clothes and restraints. Knight also challenged courtroom procedures and the makeup of the jury that convicted him and recommended death.
The court unanimously upheld his conviction and death sentence.