Trucker convicted of capital murder in Alabama workplace killings

COLUMBIANA, Ala. - A truck driver who walked into two businesses, complained his co-workers there were spreading rumors about him, and then shot them was convicted Saturday of capital murder in the rampage that left three men dead.

A Shelby County jury deliberated for 20 minutes before finding Alan Eugene Miller guilty.

The jurors immediately entered the penalty phase, where they will decide whether Miller should receive life in prison without possibility of parole or should die in Alabama's electric chair. Shelby County Circuit Judge Al Crowson can accept or reject their suggestion.

Miller, 35, showed no reaction as the verdict was read. During the trial, his lawyers had all but conceded his guilt in the Aug. 5, 1999, shootings in the Birmingham suburb of Pelham.

Miller was charged with gunning down Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy at Ferguson Enterprises, the company where he worked. Then, prosecutors said, he drove to Post Airgas, a company that had fired him, and shoot Terry Jarvis.

During closing arguments Saturday, prosecutor Gordon Ladner told jurors the victims had at least one thing in common: Miller wanted them all dead.

Speaking as jurors looked at photos taken inside Ferguson Enterprises, state forensics expert Angelo Della Manna testified Holdbrooks crawled more than 20 feet down a hall despite being shot three times in the chest, once in the face and once in the right shoulder. The fatal shot was fired from less than 2 inches away, he said.

Defense attorney Mickey Johnson conceded the evidence was convincing, but described Miller as a ''tortured soul'' who suffers from a personality disorder. A psychological evaluation found Miller believed he had been slighted by ''perceived events,'' he said.

Before opening fire at each place, Miller made comments about the victims spreading rumors about him, testimony showed.

''(Miller) believed in the death penalty. He just believed he could impose it,'' said Johnson.

Johnson criticized prosecutors for showing dozens of gruesome crime scene an autopsy photos, calling the display ''excessive.'' He rested his case Friday without calling any witnesses to counter a mountain of prosecution evidence, including an eyewitness to one slaying and testimony linking Miller's handgun to shell casings and slugs found at the crime scenes.

Miller showed little reaction during the two days of testimony, and he didn't speak to his mother or other relatives seated a few feet behind him. He craned his head once for a better look at one of the crime scene photos.

The two attacks came one week after one of the worst office massacres in U.S. history. On July 29, Mark O. Barton, a frustrated investor, killed nine people and wounded 13 others at two Atlanta brokerage firms before taking his own life.