The murder case was turned over to the defense

May 8—The defense team for Corey Maples, convicted of murder for fatally shooting his two friends in Decatur in 1995, made its opening arguments in the criminal trial Tuesday afternoon after the prosecution called its final witness.

“What impact has Stacy’s death had on you and your family?” Alabama Assistant Attorney General Polly Kenny asked the victim’s father, Stacy Terry.

“Terrible,” he replied in tears. “Stacy was my fishing buddy. My baby.”

Maples was friends with Stacy Terry and Barry Robinson before he shot them as the pair sat in Terry’s Chevrolet Camaro outside Maples’ home on the night of July 7, 1995. The three had played pool together in Decatur, and there apparently were no problems. between them prior to the attack, according to both the prosecution and defense.

Maples then took Terry’s wallet and Camaro and was later arrested in Nashville. Due to the aggravating factor of first-degree robbery, Maples was charged with capital murder and convicted in 1997. At the age of 21, he was sentenced to death by a jury vote of 10-2.

After fighting for the right to appeal his sentence all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012, a federal court later overturned Maples’ death sentence in 2022 due to ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase. Now a Morgan County jury will ostensibly decide whether Maples will remain in prison for life without parole or be sentenced to death; However, Circuit Judge Charles Elliott has decided he can set aside the jury’s recommended sentence if he chooses — a legal practice that was banned by the state Legislature in 2017 but was legal during Maples’ original sentencing.

“It’s not a pretty picture, it’s not a pretty story, but it’s one that needs to be told,” attorney Christy Miller told the jury in her opening argument. “These killings were without provocation and without reason, and it was terrible. You are not here to determine his guilt.”

Miller told the jury they had two choices for Maples: life without parole or death.

“I can only assume that determining whether or not someone lives or dies is not something you have to do,” she said. ‘If you consult, you end up in a large gray area. The law says that death is never required. If you impose it, it will be because you want to, not because you have to.’

Miller went on to explain the purpose of mitigating evidence, saying a juror’s “heart and moral compass” can guide them in determining whether the mitigation should outweigh the aggravating factor. She said jurors are legally required to know and understand Maples’ life.

Miller then painted a picture of a boy “born behind the 8-ball” into a family with a history of addiction, mental illness and alcoholism. Maples’ mother gave birth at a young age and, according to Miller, was not yet ready to become a “mother.” His mother sent him to his father when he was 3 years old.

“He grew up thinking his mother didn’t want him,” Miller said. The experience “left a mommy-shaped hole in his heart.”

According to Miller, Maples’ life with his father wasn’t much of an improvement. His father spent money on alcohol at the expense of food and utility bills, she said. He often told Maples he “wouldn’t amount to anything,” Miller said.

At age 16, Maples went to live with his mother for a while before she asked him to leave after a confrontation, Miller said. Maples went back to live with his father.

“The mother-shaped hole got wider and deeper,” she said. “It was the beginning of a downward spiral.”

Maples dropped out of high school and fell in with the wrong people, according to Miller. He started using drugs: first marijuana, then LSD, cocaine, crack cocaine and meth. He couldn’t hold down a job. His father kicked him out of the house. According to Miller, he tried to enlist in the military but was rejected after testing positive for marijuana.

“Experts will tell you that people without self-respect do self-destructive things,” Miller said. Eventually, Maples was arrested for drug abuse and became a confidential informant for police, according to Miller. After receiving credible threats, his father sent him to live with his uncle, a “traumatized, alcoholic” Vietnam veteran.

“He lived and got drunk with the person who was supposed to straighten him out,” Miller said. Eventually, Maples ended up back at his father’s house. “It was the last stop before this crime happened.”

Since then, Maples has spent nearly 29 years in prison. Miller said that despite the harsh prison conditions, he has not committed any violent crimes during that time and poses no danger to anyone in prison.

“Nothing anyone here will say will change the fact that he is a guilty murderer,” she said. ‘We ask you to see the 50-year-old man sitting at the council table. We ask you to see the son, the nephew, the human being.

“We’re not asking you to excuse him, forgive him, or even like him. We here ask you to sentence Corey Maples to life in prison without the possibility of parole.”

When Miller finished, the jury was escorted out of the courtroom. The defense will call its first witness Wednesday morning.

Before the parties were dismissed, both agreed to dismiss a juror who apparently fell asleep in court Monday and again during Miller’s opening arguments.

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