Appeals court overturns Blount county death penalty conviction and affirms Etowah county death sentence

An Alabama appeals court struck down a death penalty conviction Friday.

In a case from Blount County, the appeals court reversed the capital murder conviction and death sentence that Thomas Doyle Crowe received for the November 2009 killing and robbery of Marvin Dailey. The appeals court said the trial judge gave improper instructions to the jury about Alabama’s capital murder law. The ruling would allow a new trial.

In another case the court Unanimously affirmed the capital murder conviction and death sentence that Ronnie Lynn Kirksey for causing fatal injuries to 23-month-old Cornell Norwood in April 2006 in Etowah County. Kirksey lived with the child’s mother in Gadsden and was watching the boy while the mother was away.