May 19, 2008

Shropshire gets life for Scott murder

STAFF REPORTS

CENTRE — A Cherokee County jury last week returned a guilty verdict against Tol Shropshire, Centre, for the Feb. 24, 2005 murder of Allen Lane Scott. The verdict culminated a three-day trial. Shropshire was sentenced to life in prison by Circuit Judge Randall L. Cole.

Shropshire was indicted in 2005 by a Cherokee County grand jury. Evidence presented during the trial showed that Shropshire shot Mr. Scott five times as he tried to get away from Shropshire.

Testimony revealed that the brutal attack was unprovoked, and occurred as Mr. Scott was attempting to hammer a “No Trespassing” sign between his rental property and property owned by Shropshire, who came out of his house, saw Scott with the sign, and began firing at him.

Witness testimony revealed that as Mr. Scott attempted to flee the attack, he put his hands in the air and begged Shropshire to stop shooting. He eventually collapsed and fell to the ground. Shropshire then calmly walked back to his residence, hid the gun under the mattress in his bedroom, and waited for the police to arrive.

District Attorney Mike O'Dell, who along with Deputy District Attorney Bob Johnston prosecuted, said justice was a “long time coming” for Mr. Scott's murderer.

Shropshire entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease, O'Dell said.

Under Alabama law, Shropshire faced a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life for the murder conviction. Cole agreed with O'Dell that a life sentence was appropriate.

“Mr. Scott was a special person,” O'Dell said. “Everyone I talked to told me that he was a very kind and gentle man who would 'give you the shirt off his back' if he knew you needed it. I had a very large number of Cherokee County residents tell me they were praying for us to bring justice to Mr. Scott's killer, and these were not just relatives of Mr. Scott, but people throughout the community who knew him.”