A Birmingham man was found guilty Thursday in the shooting death of another man last year in Gate City.

Cedric Lamar Willis, 37, was initially charged with murder in the June 11, 2022, slaying of 43-year-old Morrion Montrie Hamilton.

A Jefferson County jury on Thursday convicted Willis on a reduced charge of provocation manslaughter.

Under Alabama law, a person commits the crime of manslaughter if he or she causes the death of another person under circumstances that would constitute murder, except that he or she causes the death due to a sudden heat of passion caused by provocation recognized by law, and before a reasonable time for the passion to cool and for reason to reassert itself.

East Precinct officers were dispatched at 4:40 p.m. that Saturday  to a report of gunfire in the 7500 block of 66th Court Way South in Gate City.

Once on the scene, they found Hamilton unresponsive in an alley.

Officers applied pressure to the victim’s wounds until Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service arrived. They transported Hamilton to UAB Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. He had been shot multiple times.

The city’s gunfire detection system – Shot Spotter – registered at least 10 shots fired, and police found numerous shell casings.

Authorities at the time said it appeared the victim was involved in an argument with the suspect, who fled in a vehicle after firing the deadly shots.

The trial began Monday before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Kechia Davis.

Jefferson County deputy district attorneys Amanda Wineman and Lauren Breland are prosecuting the case. Willis is represented by the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office.

Willis pleaded guilty in 2015 to third-degree robbery and was ordered to serve 18 months of a 13 ½ -year sentence. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to discharging a gun into an occupied building was sentenced to 15 years in prison with two to serve.

Davis will sentence Willis on Oct. 3.