Jury Recommends Death Sentence for Anniston man in death of School Teacher

A jury today recommended 24 year old Nicholas Smith be executed for the 2011 kidnapping and murder of elementary school teacher Kevin Thompson.  Today would have been Kevin Thompsons 32^nd Birthday.   Thompson was found dead beside a highway in Cherokee County days after his mother reported him missing in April 2011. Thompson was a third-grade teacher at Wellborn Elementary School.  The jury of nine women and three men found Smith guilty a week ago of first-degree charges of committing intentional murder during a kidnapping and robbery. The jury today voted 11-1 that Smith be executed rather than serve a life term in prison.  Circuit Judge Brian Howell will sentence Smith on Sept. 3. Two other men Tyrone Thompson and Jovan Gaston are to be tried in connection with Kevin Thompsons murder  in separate trials over the next year..