A Walker County man has been convicted in the 2020 drive-by shooting death of another who was killed while he was cooking in his kitchen.
A Jefferson County jury on Friday found Dalen Eliase Gaines, 27, guilty of capital murder in the slaying of 22-year-old Brandon Monroe Thomas.
The charge was a capital offense because the deadly shots were fired into Thomas’s home from outside of the residence.
The trial began Monday before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Streety.
Jefferson County Deputy District Attorneys Blake Owens and Isabella Colombo are prosecuting the case.
Gaines is represented by attorneys Frankie Lee and Leroy Maxwell, with assistance from Jacob Eperson and Darius Culpepper.
The shooting happened at 12:08 a.m. that Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, in the 6500 block of Snowville-Brent Road in Dora.
Jefferson County sheriff’s officials said Thomas was in the kitchen cooking when Gaines fired multiple shots into the home. A vehicle then sped away.
Thomas woke up his parents and told them he’d been shot.
He was then taken to Walker Baptist Medical Center in Jasper where he was pronounced dead at 1:22 a.m.
Gaines and Thomas knew each other and hung out with the same group of friends.
Gaines was arrested about a week later when the Walker County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from a citizen that Gaines was at a location in west Jasper.
Gaines has been held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail since his arrest on Sept. 7, 2020.
His sentencing is set for Oct. 16.
