Roy Burgess, Jr., a man serving life without parole for a murder he committed as a teenager, was sentenced for a third time in Morgan County.
On Aug. 12, 1993, Burgess lured his victim, Kevin Gardner, to a remote area and shot him in the head at close range. He then stole Gardner’s car and took it to a Birmingham chop shop for money. Gardner was 16-years-old.
Burgess was convicted of capital murder in 1994 and received the death penalty. He appealed and was re-sentenced in 2001 to life in prison without parole. Due to a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision determining juveniles could not be given mandatory life without parole sentences, Burgess was given another sentencing.
The Morgan County Circuit Court again sentenced Burgess to life without parole.
“I am pleased that justice for Kevin Gardner has been served once again,” said Attorney General Marshall. “Roy Burgess took the life of an innocent young man who died trying to help a classmate. On the scales of justice, Burgess’s age at the time of his offense could not excuse or diminish the savage and evil nature of his crime. Today, the court correctly ruled that he should again receive the maximum allowable punishment for which he is eligible-life without parole.”
The court ruled the murder did not result from “youthful indiscretion and transient immaturity.”
Marshall said the defendant’s greed and selfishness, then and now, outweighed his age at the time of the crime.
