A jury took less than an hour to find a former Birmingham police detective guilty in the “love triangle” shooting death of a woman she found with her common law husband.
Alfreda Fluker, 42, was convicted of capital murder in the 2020 Germania Park slaying of 43-year-old Kanisha Nicole Fuller, and attempted murder of Mario Theodore White, who was Fluker’s police partner and common-law husband.
“Nobody is above the law,’’ said Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr following the verdict. “Today justice was served, and we hope that the family of Kanisha Fuller can find peace and live on in her memory.”
The jury of three women and nine men began deliberations Friday morning.
Within 10 minutes of deliberations, they asked Jefferson County Circuit Judge Alaric May to clarify the difference between attempted murder and first-degree assault in the White charge, but had no questions regarding the charges involving Fluker.
Fluker, a mother of three daughters, remained stoic as the verdict was read. The judge had cautioned family members on both sides to refrain from showing any emotion in the presence of the jury.
Fuller’s family cried silently, and Fluker’s family appeared stunned at the capital murder verdict.
Sentencing is set for February. Fluker will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jefferson County Assistant District Attorneys Eric Hamilton and Will McComb prosecuted Fluker.
Fluker was represented by defense attorneys Erskine Mathis and Scott Brower.
“We are happy with the verdict, we are happy for the family of Kanisha Fuller,’’ McComb said. “I think the jury made the right call on a very, very difficult case.”
“I think the right decision was reached in this case,’’ Hamilton said.
Asked if it was tough to prosecute a police officer, McComb said, “I wouldn’t say it was difficult prosecuting a police officer who did was she did,’’ she said. “The absolute violation of any standard that she swore to in becoming a Birmingham police officer, we didn’t have a problem with it.”
Mathis said Fluker will appeal the verdict. He and Brower said they believe the jury should have been able to consider other charges, such as reckless murder and reckless manslaughter.
The jury considered the charges of capital murder, murder, and heat of passion manslaughter.
The said Fluker was overwrought throughout the trial but handled the verdict as well as could be expected.
“I think she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to prison for something,’’ Brower said. “We told her there was a good chance this is what the verdict could be, so I think she prepared herself.”
“It’s just a tragic, tragic thing,’’ Mathis said. “Nobody wins in a situation like this.”
Prosecutors in the four-day trial said Fluker was “intentional, cold, calculated and exact” when she found Fuller and White together in White’s city vehicle in the Birmingham park that Friday night and emptied her service weapon on the SUV.
Defense attorneys, however, said Fluker was overcome with anger when she found Fuller and White having sex in the SUV and fired in the heat of passion, not intending to hurt or kill anyone.
The shooting happened about 11:50 p.m. April 10, 2020, at the park on the city’s west side.
The 43-year-old Fuller, the mother of teen son, died a short time later at UAB Hospital. White was not injured and later resigned from the department.
Police at the time labeled the deadly shooting the result of a “love triangle.”
Fluker and White were partners on the Birmingham Police Department’s Crime Reduction Team. They also had been involved romantically for several years and had lived together since 2016.
Fluker has remained in the Jefferson County Jail without bond since her April 11, 2020, arrest. She was immediately fired from the police force.
Fluker was supposed to go on trial in September, but Jefferson Judge May declared a mistrial, citing juror misconduct.
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Testimony in the case began Tuesday, with both White and Fluker taking the stand.
Fluker testified for roughly an hour Wednesday, chronicling the events of that night.
She said she and White had gotten into argument when he prepared to the leave the home about 10 p.m. He took a shower, a Viagra pill and put on cologne.
Fluker said their argument turned physical and then White left their Birmingham home. She began to track him on a phone app, and eventually went to Germania Park where she said she found White and Fuller having sex.
White testified that they were only talking.
“They were having sex in the passenger’s seat in the work truck,’’ Fluker said Wednesday when she took the witness stand in her own defense. “She was on top of him, and they were having sex.”
“All I could visualize was them having sex in that truck that I ride in every day,’’ Fluker said.
She said she and White got into another physical altercation. At that point, she went to her own vehicle to retrieve her gun, and White and Fuller “hauled butt” out of the bar.
Fluker said she then began firing her gun, which she claimed was from abut 100 to 150 feet away.
“I went to my truck, and I pulled my weapon and I just started recklessly firing,’’ Fluker said.
She said she wasn’t trying to kill anyone. “I wanted Mario to know to stop playing with me. I wanted him to respect me,’’ she said.
Fluker said White left the park but then put his truck in reverse and re-entered. They got into another argument, all while a wounded Fuller remained in the passenger’s seat.
Fluker said she told White they needed to get Fuller to the hospital. “He’s like, ‘No, I can’t leave her truck in the park,’’’ she said.
Fluker said she then told White she was going to take Fuller to the hospital. “He pushes me back down on the ground again and says, ‘No, she can’t talk.’’
Fluker said she leaned into the driver’s side of the vehicle and spoke to Fuller. “I said, ‘Baby girl, you OK?’ She was coughing and she’s moving her head ‘yeah.’’’
She said she then left and didn’t call anyone for help. She went to her mother’s home where she was taken into custody the following morning.
Authorities testified that Fuller was shot in the leg, the arm and the head. The head wound, described as causing a devastating injury to her brain, was the fatal wound.
