Conviction of Southside man upheld

William C. Hammond

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld a former Southside resident’s second conviction on felony sexual abuse charges.  William C. Hammond initially was convicted in February 2011 of first-degree rape, second-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse. Etowah County Circuit Judge David Kimberley sentenced Hammond to 40 years in prison. The conviction was appealed and returned to Etowah County for retrial. Hammond was convicted a second time in May 2013. The conviction again was appealed, on an issue regarding disclosure of a prosecution witness.  Last Friday, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals announced the conviction had been affirmed by memorandum.  Hammond, a former Religious Program Specialist in the U.S. Navy, was charged with sex offenses against a 15-year-old female relative.  During his 2013 trial, she testified that Hammond, his wife and children moved to Southside when she was 15 to be closer to Hammond’s family. She was hired to baby-sit his children, and shortly after, he began molesting her. The abuse continued for about six months, she said, until she was allowed to quit the baby-sitting job.  Another female relative of Hammond’s testified that he raped her when she was 13 years old.