Editor’s note: This story was updated to add information as to the motive behind the slayings.
PRATTVILLE — It started with dominoes games between friends that ended with three men dead; shot and bludgeoned to death.
Prattville’s deadliest crime ended Wednesday, five years later, with two men sentenced to prison for the rest of their natural lives without the possibility of parole.
But is it over, can it ever be over, for the families of Tony D. Smith, Eddie Dean Scott and Al Seal Benson?
About 50 family members of the victims of the July 3, 2017 massacre in Smith’s barber shop gathered in a Prattville courtroom Wednesday afternoon. They witnessed Circuit Judge Bill Lewis Jr. sentence Marty Morgan, 38, and Keon Cain, 23, both of Prattville, to life in prison without the possibility of parole on capital murder charges.
Both men pleaded guilty, Morgan in 2019 and Cain about a week ago before his trial was set to begin, after the death penalty was taken off the table. The victims’ families approved the plea agreements.
The motive in the slayings was a robbery gone wrong, Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson said early on in the investigation.
‘Barbershop massacre’: Prattvlle’s deadliest crime wraps with guilty plea
Why did this happen? Family members speak in court
About a dozen family members addressed the court before the sentences were meted out. Cain and Morgan stood to the side, under Lewis’ orders, to listen to the comments. The process took almost two hours. The most asked question was why? Why did this happen?
Everyone in this case knew one another — the victims, their families, Morgan and Cain. Smith, Scott and Benson were well-known and well-respected men in the community. They were youth sports coaches, they coached Cain when he was younger. They drove him to games and practices and…
Source : yahoo
