MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Mobile County Circuit Judge Ben Brooks had little discretion in sentencing Jeffery Blackston for the 2021 murder of Troy Barnhill.
Blackston’s conviction on a capital murder charge mandated a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. But labeling the crime “pure evil” and calling it one of the most “gruesome and barbaric” murders that have ever come before him, the judge also sentenced Blackston to life for sexual torture and ordered that it run consecutively to the murder sentence.
“The only difference would be if for some reason, the appeals court would set the conviction aside,” defense attorney Jason Darley said. “It’s academic.”…