Madison man acquitted in Stapleton manslaughter case

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ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — A Madison man has been acquitted of manslaughter charges after his attorneys were able to prove he was not responsible for the death of his friend in a late-night/early morning crash from 2017 in the Stapleton community.

“We had questions about this case from the beginning,” said Robertsdale attorney Mitzi Johnson-Theodoro, “and we fought hard to prove his innocence over a 2-year complex case and I’m just happy that I was able to walk this young man out the front door instead of having to walk him to the back and a long jail sentence.”

Johnson-Theodoro said her client and a fiend were traveling along the Alabama 59/U.S. 31 corridor in Stapleton around midnight in March of 2017 when the vehicle left the roadway and rolled over, killing her client’s friend.

Investigators took a blood specimen from her client about 6 ½ hours following the accident, determining that he was under the influence, Johnson-Theodoro said.

The investigation also concluded that her client was driving the car, but he had no memory of the accident because of his extensive injuries, she said. No air bags had deployed in the accident since it was a roll-over.

“We brought in an expert to refute the validity of the test,” Johnson-Theodoro said. “We were also able to prove that the deceased had injuries more consistent with him being the driver.”

In the end, Johnson-Theodoro said, she and her team were able to get an acquittal for her client.

“We fought a very long and hard battle against the State of Alabama and the State of Alabama’s crime lab,” she said. “We never gave up and we never gave in, and I am just happy that we were able to get justice for our client.”