MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A day shy of his 76th birthday, Walter Thames Sr. stood at the defense table Thursday and watched passively as the jury forewoman announced the verdict in his murder trial: guilty of provocation manslaughter.
In rendering the verdict, the jury declined to convict on the top count of murder, opting instead for the lesser alternative. The charge describes someone who kills another person in the “heat of passion.” Jurors heard testimony that the Mobile man and Patricia Odoms had an argument before the shooting.
Alisha Jordan, one of the 65-year-old victim’s daughters, told FOX10 News that her mother had brought food to Thames in the past and was helping him with an injured leg.
“We were pleased; we’re satisfied with the guilty verdict,” she said. “We knew from the beginning that he killed our mom, and we were pleased with justice. We’re pleased with justice. … Even though it wasn’t the murder charge, we still got a guilty verdict. They saw right through his lies.”…