A convicted killer on death row in Alabama told NBC News that he no longer wants to postpone justice for the families of the five people he murdered eight years ago and is willing to pay the ultimate price for his crimes.
Derrick Dearman revealed in his first interview with a reporter that he sent nine letters earlier this week to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Attorney General Steve Marshall, the judges, and everyone else involved in the tragic case, informing them of his decision to drop his appeals and his desire for execution.
Dearman, 36, says he is at peace with his decision.
“Now it’s time for the victims and their families to get the justice they deserve so that the closure can begin,” he said during a phone interview from the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.
Dearman said he has not yet informed the victims’ families of his decision, but he plans to write them letters as well.
“I have spent many nights thinking, What would I say to any of them if I ever had the chance or the opportunity to say something?” He went on to comment. “That is one of the reasons I decided to have my sentence carried out.” Words carry little weight in this situation. The only thing I would say is that everyone who was wounded by my acts should forgive me, not for myself but for them. This will free up their hearts and allow them to fully heal.”
Dearman made the news two months after the Alabama Supreme Court refused his appeal and upheld his six murder convictions. The prosecution charged him with six homicides, as one of the victims, Chelsea Marie Reed, 22, was five months pregnant.
Alabama has a fetal homicide law that applies at all stages of pregnancy.
Dearman, who is from Leakesville, Mississippi, stated that he went through the appeals process for the sake of his family and not for himself.
“They said, ‘Derrick, just give us a few years in this appeal process,'” he told reporters. “‘We deserve that; it is our right as your family to fight for your life,’ and I answered, ‘OK.'” That was over six years ago, and I believe I gave them a fair shot.
NBC News has contacted Reed’s family, as well as the families of Dearman’s four victims: Shannon Melissa Randall, 35; Robert Lee Brown, 26; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; and Joseph Adam Turner, 26.
Brown’s father has already forgiven Dearman.
“I can’t bring my son back,” Robert F. Brown stated in September 2016 after Dearman’s arraignment in Mobile, Alabama. “I forgive this guy because he does not know any better.” I feel for his family.”
The sad chain of events began on August 20, 2016, when Dearman, armed with an ax and weapons, broke into a house outside rural Citronelle, Alabama.
Dearman, high on methamphetamine and outraged that his estranged girlfriend, Laneta Lester, had sought refuge in her brother’s home, attacked the victims as they slept. Then he abducted Lester and Turner’s three-month-old son, Darren, and escaped to his father’s house across the border in Leakesville.
Lester and the infant, who Dearman had released, arrived at the Citronelle police station and told investigators what had happened, marking the first indication that something horrific had occurred on Jim Platt Road.
Dearman stated that after coming down from his high and realizing what he had done, he surrendered to the Leakesville police.
“I am guilty, plain and simple; I turned myself in, and I pleaded guilty,” Mr. Dearman stated. “Once I relocated to the county and spent a week there sleeping every day, my thoughts began to return to me a little bit more, little bit more, little bit more, and I was just in shock.” I couldn’t fathom the gravity of what had occurred since those were decent people.”
Dearman, who has struggled with addiction since he was a teenager, claims the drugs transformed him into a monster.
“Drugs turned me into a very unpredictable, unstable, and violent person,” he told me. “That is not who I am.” The person who did these acts and the person I genuinely am are two distinct individuals.”
But, Dearman argued, that was no explanation for his actions.
“It doesn’t change the fact that the crimes were committed,” he added.
Nonetheless, when he appeared before a judge, Dearman initially pleaded not guilty—oon behalf of his family—tto six counts of capital murder and two counts of kidnapping.
“They knew that I wasn’t in my right mind; they knew that the sober me would have never done those horrible things,” he went on to say. “I was not even going to challenge my conviction. But I allowed my family to speak up and appeal to the judges not to seek the death penalty.
The Turner house, where the murders took place, was destroyed two weeks later. But not before the detectives gathered the proof they needed against Dearman.
Then, in September 2018, Dearman dismissed his two court-appointed attorneys and pleaded guilty.
Even if a suspect has pleaded guilty to capital murder, Alabama law requires him or her to face a jury trial.
In October 2018, the jury convicted Dearman.
The procedures Alabama follows for a prisoner seeking execution were not immediately clear.
But Dearman has already decided how he wants to die, and he has chosen lethal injection. Currently, the state has planned Jamie Mills’ execution for May 30 and hopes to execute a second inmate, Alan Miller, using nitrogen gas later this year. Miller, who survived a 2022 fatal injection attempt, filed a lawsuit this week to prevent the nitrogen execution, claiming the first execution using the new procedure inflicted brutal and prolonged suffering. Alabama carried out the first nitrogen execution earlier this year on Kenneth Eugene Smith, who had previously survived a lethal injection attempt.
“The execution… does it scare me? “Yes and no,” Dearman answered when asked about the failed executions. “On the one hand, you have worse complications, for whatever reason, which is quite uncomfortable and painful.” Yes, there’s a chance; Alabama has a history of execution issues.
“Actually carrying it out is the last thing on my mind. “My mind is so focused on making sure I do the right thing,” he says.
Dearman has already picked a spiritual advisor, the Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood.
“Though I’m vehemently opposed to the state of Alabama having the right to kill him, Derrick Dearman is competent to make his own decisions, and I’ll continue prayerfully standing beside him as he proceeds,” Hood said in a statement.
Dearman says that his decision does not mean he supports the death penalty for the people he lives with in Holman.
“There’s guys in the general population that committed way worse crimes than half the guys on death row,” he went on to say. “There’s some guys here on death row; if you would let them go today, they would never commit a crime and be productive members of society.”
Dearman stated that death is preferable to spending the rest of his life in Alabama’s harsh jail system. However, this isn’t the sole reason he desires execution.
“Am I doing this because I can’t live with myself?” “No,” he replied. “I made this decision for various reasons. One of those reasons is so that all parties involved, not just the victims and their families, but also my family, can get closure, begin healing, and move forward.”
