Danny Sledge & David Pennington: Not Equal Victims?

Earlier today we read of the recent arrest of John Junior Minton; it came a few short weeks after the arrest of Jessica Marie Nunley in Lauderdale County. Both Minton and Nunley were on probation/parole for their roles in the murder of David Lynn Pennington. Considering the crime years after it happened, we realized just how similar it was to the murder of Danny Sledge, also in Lauderdale County. Yet the legal results could hardly have been more dissimilar.

Let’s compare the two crimes:

March 1999: It’s late night, and Danny Sledge is working alone at the Galley, a small, somewhat secluded eatery located on Shoal Creek.

May 2011: It’s late night, and David Lynn Pennington, confined to a wheelchair, is home alone at his residence in the Macedonia community west of Florence.

March 1999: Eric Boyd, 19, and his brother Nathan, 17, both into alcohol and other drugs, are driving around town when Nathan allegedly suggests they visit Sledge whom he said owed him money.

May 2011: Tiffany Lynn Nunley, 20, her twin sister Jessica Marie Nunley, and John Junior Minton, 29, all into drugs, are driving around western Lauderdale County when Tiffany allegedly suggests they visit Pennington, a man with whom she had previously traded sex for money.

March 1999: Eric Boyd parks his vehicle in an out of the way place while Nathan allegedly enters the restaurant alone*.

May 2011: John Minton and Jessica Nunley allegedly wait in Minton’s vehicle while Tiffany Nunley enters Pennington’s house alone.

March 1999: Eric Boyd leaves the Galley with blood on his shoes and money in his pockets. The two brothers drive away from the scene and go to a bar where they spend the cash taken from the restaurant.

May 2011: Tiffany Nunley leaves Pennington’s home with money and prescription drugs. The three drive away from the scene.

March 1999: Danny Sledge’s body is found on the floor of his restaurant; he had been stabbed with such viciousness that the blade of the knife had broken off in his body.

May 2011: David Pennington’s body is found in his home; he had been stabbed more than 70 times.

March 1999: Both Eric and Nathan Boyd are arrested and charged with Capital Murder.

May 2011: Tiffany Nunley, Jessica Nunley, and John Minton quickly become suspects and are eventually indicted, arrested, and charged with Capital Murder.

2000/2001: No deal is reached in the Sledge murder case, and the victim’s family pushes for trials for the Boyd brothers. Nathan Lee Boyd is convicted of Capital Murder and is currently serving a sentence of Life Without Parole. Eric Wayne Boyd is convicted of Felony Murder and is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole at some future date.

2014: After months of legal wrangling, Pennington’s family accepts a plea agreement. Tiffany Nunley is sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison for Manslaughter with extenuating circumstances. Jessica Nunley and John Minton are convicted of Hindering Prosecution. J. Nunley is sentenced to five years probation, and Minton, with an extensive criminal record, is sentenced to 10 years.

2016: Jessica Nunley fails a drug test and attempts to escape from the Lauderdale County Courthouse in March. She’s remanded to community corrections to finish her sentence. John Minton is arrested for DUI in July. It’s currently unknown how this will affect his parole status.

Are the two crimes that different? We think not. Yet the results indicate what a crap shoot our criminal justice system really is.


* While Jessica Nunley and John Minton backed each other up in their accounts of not entering their victim’s home, there were no witnesses as to who actually entered the Galley. No physical evidence connected Eric Boyd to the restaurant where Danny Sledge was murdered, but prosecutors contended both brothers were involved in the actual murder. Certainly, Eric Boyd was at least an accessory after the fact and deserved his sentence.

Prosecutorial Misconduct - Even in the Shoals

Most of us have heard the term prosecutorial misconduct even if we tend to consider it just typical defense attorney rhetoric; however, this past week the term has been featured in almost any newspaper we peruse. From former Governor Don Siegelman's accusations of misconduct leading to his felony conviction to accounts of the first murder trial of Decatur's Daniel Wade Moore, we've seen how pervasive such accusations have become. Perhaps like sexual child molestation, the term has not become more ubiquitous, but only the reporting of such.

Currently we have Siegelman and Huntsville businessman Alex Latifi hurling charges of prosecutorial misconduct against Florence's Alice Martin, while Martin investigates Alabama Attorney General Troy King for similar charges, while King investigates county family court judges including Lauderdale's Jimmy Sandlin (or not--depending on whom answers the phone in Montgomery). Is there an honest individual still out there or is our anthem now victory at any price?

Before we say such things only happen in other places, let's take a look at the Shoals. Our March 10, 2009, column concerned Lauderdale County's Judge Mike Jones. Jones recently recused himself in the Keith McGuire rape case on the grounds that he had worked in civic projects with the defendant's father, Lexington Mayor Bobby McGuire. Yet, only weeks later, Jones refused to recuse himself in the Allen Wilson assault trial. Wilson's attorney had twice asked for the jurist's recusal on the grounds that his client had been an avid supporter of former judicial candidate Alice Martin.

Jones has been no stranger to such controversy, once failing to declare a mistrial in the capital murder trial of Nathan Boyd. In October 2000, Boyd faced a possible death sentence for the murder of restaurant owner Danny Sledge. During his trial, Assistant District Attorney Doug Evans (pictured above) withheld information concerning the testimony of a prosecution witness. Both Boyd defense attorneys, Tim Case and Jean Darby, immediately requested a mistrial, but Judge Jones refused to consider that option and immediately ruled against them.

Three years later, Evans was again accused of prosecutorial misconduct, this time causing a mistrial in the capital murder trial of Donald Wayne Darling. Darling's story is the stuff of pulp fiction and deserving of a movie of the week. Here we will just say that at the time of Darling's first trial, now District Attorney Christopher Connolly called Evan's actions "outrageous prosecutorial conduct." Needless to say, Connolly refused to retain the assistant district attorney during his administration, but Doug Evans now works for District Attorney Joey Rushing in Franklin County.

After reading this, will any of us sleep more securely tonight. I somehow doubt it.