12 August 2021 :

Brandon Deon Mitchell's death sentence reinstated. 
An Alabama man convicted in the slaying of 4 people in 2005 — including 3 during a robbery at the Airport Inn — has had his death sentence reinstated, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ordered on Friday, August 6, 2021. Jefferson County Circuit Judge William Cole overrode a jury’s recommendation of life in prison without parole following the conviction of Brandon Deon Mitchell in the 2006 trial, instead sentencing Mitchell to death for the killing of motel guest Dorothy Smith, 58, and motel employee Kim Olney, 28. Afterward, Mitchell appealed the convictions and sentence. In 2017, an appeals court denied 3 of Mitchell’s claims. However, the court agreed that his counsel had been ineffective at the sentencing hearing. A new sentencing hearing was ordered. The state of Alabama appealed this decision, and Friday’s decision puts Mitchell’s original death sentence back in place. The appeal was heard by Presiding Judge Mary Windom, judges Elizabeth Kellum, Chris McCool and Richard Minor. Cole, who has was the judge in the original case, recused himself. “Although Mitchell’s trial counsel could have done more—and could have tried to present the ‘granular’ details of Mitchell’s life, as he now contends they should have—counsel’s assistance at the penalty phase was not ineffective. Counsel presented generally the mitigation themes that Mitchell contends counsel should have presented more extensively,’’ the court’s ruling stated. Mitchell’s co-defendant, Roderick Byrd, was also sentenced to death for the murder of Texas truck driver John Aylesworth, 42, during the robbery. In a separate case, Mitchell pleaded guilty to capital murder for the killing of 32-year-old Corey Brazzle in the days following the robbery and was sentenced to life without parole. Court testimony stated that Mitchell and Byrd went to the lobby of the airport shortly before 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day in 2005 and accosted Olney, who was working at the front desk. Byrd held Aylesworth, who was awaiting a ride back to his home in Texas, at gunpoint. Smith, who had traveled from New York to visit her son in Alabama for the holiday, entered the lobby while the robbery was in progress, and was killed. Security camera footage revealed that Mitchell shot Olney in the arm and head. Ballistics revealed that Olney and Smith were shot with the same weapon, a .38-caliber revolver, while Aylesworth was killed by another .38-caliber revolver. Mitchell took the money from the hotel’s cash drawer and attempted to open its safe; however, he could not. The pair robbed the three people in the lobby, taking luggage, clothing and money before killing them. The victims were each shot at close range behind the ear. The two men fled the scene on foot. They were later arrested, brought to trial, and convicted. Byrd also was sentenced to death in the Airport Inn killings.
Mitchell remained on Alabama’s death row at Holman Prison while his case was appealed. He is currently 39 years old.  

https://www.trussvilletribune.com/2021/08/07/alabama-mans-death-sentence-reinstated-for-2005-airport-inn-murders/