AG Announces Court of Criminal Appeals Upholds Cullman County Murder Conviction

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Luther Strange
Alabama Attorney General www.ago.alabama.gov

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Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Claire Haynes (334) 242-7351

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 August 10, 2015

AG ANNOUNCES THAT COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS UPHOLDS CULLMAN COUNTY MURDER CONVICTION

(MONTGOMERY)— Attorney General Luther Strange announced that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday upheld the murder conviction of Michael Wayne Lindsay.  Lindsay, 51, of Baileyton, was convicted in Cullman County Circuit Court in November of 2014 for the murder of his wife Tammy Lindsay.

Evidence presented at trial showed that on March 13, 2013, Tammy Lindsay petitioned the Cullman County probate court to order Michael Lindsay to be involuntarily committed. The court ordered that he be committed and evaluated. On the morning of March 14, 2013, he was committed to a hospital psychiatric ward where he was diagnosed with psychosis. At approximately 6 p.m., however, Tammy Lindsay signed Michael Lindsay out of the hospital against medical advice, with the understanding that he would admit himself to a different mental-health facility the following day. Later that evening, he stabbed her to death at their home.

The case was prosecuted at trial by Cullman County District Attorney Wilson Blaylock. Lindsay was sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequently sought to have his conviction reversed on appeal. 

The Attorney General's Criminal Appeals Division handled the case during the appeals process, arguing for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm the conviction. The Court did so in a decision issued on Friday, August 7.

Attorney General Strange commended Assistant Attorney General John Davis of the Attorney General's Criminal Appeals Division for his successful work in this case.

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