SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
In a verdict delivered this last Friday morning, a judge in Madison County has handed down the death penalty to a man convicted of the 2019 killing of a Huntsville police officer.
Last November, a jury overwhelmingly recommended a death sentence with a vote of 10-2 for LaJeromeny Brown. Brown openly admitted to the fatal shooting of Billy Clardy III on December 6, 2019, during an undercover drug operation in the northern part of Huntsville.
The sentencing, reported by WAAY on Friday morning, followed Brown’s prior conviction for capital murder in October by a jury.
Hailing from Chattanooga, Brown had ventured to Huntsville that day with the intention of selling 100 pounds of marijuana. The drug task force orchestrated the operation at an abandoned residence on Levert Street in north Huntsville.
Tragically, as Officer Clardy moved in to apprehend Brown from a concealed position within the house, Brown fired the fatal shots. Swiftly escaping the scene, Brown was captured by other task force officers after a brief foot chase ap- proximately a block away.
During the trial, Brown asserted that he was un- aware of Clardy’s status as a police officer.
The poignant history surrounding this case includes the fact that Billy Clardy Jr., the father of the slain officer, lost his life while on duty as a Huntsville police officer in a car accident back in 1978.
