An Alabama judge on Monday sentenced a woman to life in prison without possibility of parole for the fatal shooting of her ex-boyfriend in 2020, according to reports.
It was the only possible sentence after a jury last month found Alexis Gertrude Young guilty of capital murder.
Prosecutors alleged that the 40-year-old Mobile woman went to the apartment of Aaron “A.J.” Williams, angry that he had a new girlfriend after a tumultuous on-again, off-again relationship with her. They alleged that she shot him to death during a burglary – that she entered his home without permission. That is the element that elevated the charge from intentional murder to capital murder.
The defense maintained that the shooting took place after Williams had inflicted years of abuse on Young. They argued it amounted to battered woman syndrome, which caused post-traumatic stress disorder.
But the jury, after about an hour of deliberation, rejected that and several options for less-serious alternatives to the capital charge.
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