GUILTY AL - Alvin Ray Allen charged in 2019 with killing Sandra Cassidy Williams, 19, Mobile, 11 Sept 1980

[imstilla.grandma]

The barricade situation on Cheshire Drive has ended. Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste says police went to the home to serve a warrant to Alvin Ray Allen in connection to the murder of Sandra Cassidy Williams that took place on September 11, 1980. That was when he slammed the door on police, refusing to come out of the home.

SWAT was called to the scene to attempt to get Allen to leave the home. His wife came out voluntarily. And after SWAT broke down his door, Allen surrendered to police.

UPDATE (9:35 a.m.) — A man is now in police custody. Another person was also taken out of the home.

UPDATE (9:30 a.m.) — According to our crew on scene, a woman was just led out of the house on Cheshire Drive.

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Mobile Police and SWAT are at a home on Cheshire Drive in the Morningside Manor subdivision. SWAT is trying to talk a person out of the house.
Man wanted in 1980 murder arrested after barricade situation in Mobile

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 10, 2019
Neighborhood where cold case murder happened surprised at arrest

[...]

The area has seen a lot of changes from 39 years ago, but some people we talked to lived on this street at the time of the murder.

Williams was 19 years old when her body was found on September 11, 1980

We talked to a man in the neighborhood who says he lived here when the crime happened, but was away in the service at the time.

When asked what he thought about police making an arrest, he said, "I'm glad that they did. I'll be 90 years old on my next birthday, but all of these situations that happened, the policemen are doing good and a lot of people don't give them credit."

[...]

And the people we talked to were surprised at the coincidence that an arrest in the murder was made almost 39 years ago to the day when Williams' body was found.

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 11, 2019
Cold case murder suspect back in jail after being released in error.
Mobile District Attorney Ashley, Rich 61-year-old Alvin Ray Allen has been booked back into Mobile Metro after being released due to a clerical error.

Below is a Press Release from Mobile County SO

On September 10, 2019, The Mobile Metro Jail released ALVIN RAY ALLEN on a $100,000.00 bond from four bonding companies. Mobile County Corrections Officer who was processing ALLEN did not see the $10,000.00 cash component at the bottom of the Writ of Arrest.

We are currently reviewing procedures with Corrections Officers who work in Docket, The Circuit Clerks Office and the Circuit Court Office as it relates to District Attorney Grand Jury Indictments.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 11, updated SEP 12, 2019
Cold case murder suspect pleads not guilty
Alvin Ray Allen has pled not guilty in the murder case of Sandra Williams.

A judge put a condition on his release — electronic monitoring and no contact with the victim’s family. He can only go to his house, the three rental properties he owns and his church. Otherwise he’s on house arrest.

A status hearing has been set for Oct. 3.

UPDATE (4:25 p.m.) — Alvin Ray Allen has posted the corrected cash amount and is in the process of being released again from jail, according to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office.

[...]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[iulia]

Family of cold case victim raising money to help cover court, travel expenses

 

[iulia]

Balloon release in honor of cold case murder victim Saturday ahead of trial

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Allen's first trial last year ended in a hung jury and was the last jury trial in Mobile County before COVID-19 temporarily shut things down.

Williams' sister telling FOX 10 News they feel like they've been blind-sided after learning there will be no second trial. According to Williams' sister -- Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich told her Allen will get credit for time served under house arrest on ankle monitor and get five years probation under a plea deal.

Nothing about this case has been easy or normal. It would take DNA technology nearly 40 years after the crime to catch up to Allen. Then after his arrest in September of 2019 he was released from Metro Jail by mistake due to a clerical error. His initial arrest coming after a nearly two hour standoff with the Mobile Police SWAT Team outside his home.

Under the terms of his release -- Allen has been wearing an ankle monitor -- which according to the victim's sister is being worked into the "time-served" plea deal -- something she says their attorney plans to file a motion against Thursday in court.
Victim's family says cold case murder suspect expected to take plea deal

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A hearing expected to include a plea bargain in a decades-old cold case ended abruptly Thursday without a plea.

Family members of the victim had told FOX10 News that prosecutors informed them they had reached a plea agreement with defendant Alvin Ray Allen that would result in a sentence of time served.

But there was no deal on Thursday. Instead, Mobile County Circuit Judge Ben Brooks set the case for a status hearing in July. He held up a placard showing his packed trial calendar through the summer and told the lawyers it would be difficult to get the case tried any time soon.


“This is all related to COVID,” he said. “This s all COVID-related. This is all about trying to get jurors safely in and out of the courthouse.”

The Mobile County court system has either been shut down or operating at a greatly reduced capacity for most of the past year because of the pandemic.

Lawyers for the prosecution and defense delinked to comment on the facts of the case, citing a “gag” order by the judge. But Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich expressed frustration over how backlogged cases have been stacking up month after month.

“It’ll be probably 2022 before this case will be tried,” she said. “We have a status set in July. So this is because the other COVID we don't have trial dates in the fall yet.”
Hearing ends without expected plea bargain in Mobile cold murder case

 

[imstilla.grandma]

WKRG
According to Alabama's cold case unit, the state's oldest and most unsolved serious crime is the disappearance of Sandra Williams. On the morning of Sept. 11, 1980, the body of Williams, 20 years old, was found in a cul-de-sac in Mobile, with police quickly ruling the cause of death to be murder by stabbing. Per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that was eight miles from Williams' apartment, where her car remained in its parking spot. There was no sign of struggle in her residence, although the door had been left open. It was a mysterious death, which led to a fruitless investigation, at least at first.

In the 2010s, Mobile police took another look at Williams' case, re-interviewing as many witnesses as they could find and using technology not at their disposal in 1980 to examine evidence. DNA led to a secret indictment of Alvin Ray Allen, arrested on a murder charge in 2019 after a standoff with police and the involvement of a SWAT team. In 2020, Williams' court appearance resulted in a hung jury and a mistrial, making this murder case cold once more.

The Oldest Cold Case From Every State - Grunge

Police work tirelessly to find murderers and other criminals to bring them to justice, but sometimes they can't find the perpetrator or get charges to stick.

www.grunge.com

 

[dotr]

by: Haylee Kennedy Oct 24, 2023 rbbm

A second murder trial for a 1980 cold case begins | WKRG.com

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Testimony began Tuesday morning in the second murder trial of a Mobile man accused of raping and murdering a 19-year-old girl in 1980. Sept. 11, 1980, 19-year-old Sandra Willi…

www.wkrg.com

''Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors made their opening statements to the new jury, arguing the history Allen had with harassing Williams, making her uncomfortable while her family was visiting, and then damaging her property when she turned him away.

The defense countered the DNA evidence by saying that the two had been in a causal relationship. They say that the DNA could have come from a previous encounter and that Williams had not washed her pants.


Four people took the stand for testimonies, including a friend of the victim and the construction worker who found her.

The other two testimonies were transcripts of previous testimonies from the first trial. Both Richard Micheal Barton and James Gill were officers called to the scene in 1980, but they’ve since died.

The trial will resume Wednesday morning.''

 

[JerseyGirl]

WATCH: Alvin Ray Allen found guilty in 1980 Mobile County murder | WKRG.com

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Alvin Ray Allen, a man accused of raping and murdering a 19-year-old girl in 1980, has been found guilty during a second murder trial. Deliberation began Monday and continued …

www.wkrg.com

Allen’s bond was immediately discharged and revoked. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 20 at 1:30 p.m.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Jury finds Black man guilty of white woman's 1980 cold case murder as defense argues racism

“This is not ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ ladies and gentlemen,” a prosecutor argued. “And these are not the times of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ We have DNA."

lawandcrime.com