Capital murder charge in 2001 killing of young father at Birmingham gas station sent to grand jury
The capital murder charge against a Bessemer man in a fatal shooting that happened 21 years ago will go to a grand jury for indictment consideration.
Birmingham police in August announced the arrest of Rickey Ricardo Witherspoon in the killing of a young father at a gas station. Killed in the Dec. 5, 2001, shooting was 20-year-old Wesley Powell III.
On Wednesday, lead Det. Jonathan Ross testified for more than an hour. He said a witness came forward with information that gave investigators what they needed to charge Witherspoon.
Following the hearing, Jefferson County District Judge William Bell ruled, “probable cause exists to believe the defendant committed the charged crime.”
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Foster Marshall. Witherspoon is represented by the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office.
The 48-year-old Witherspoon remains held in the Jefferson County Jail on $500,000 bond.
The shooting happened about 2:20 p.m. that day at the gas station on the corner of Eight Avenue North and Seventh Street.
Witnesses at the time said Powell was sitting in his car at the pumps when a man walked up to the front passenger’s side of the car and opened fire.
“He was shot like five times,’’ a woman told The Birmingham News at the scene that day. “A lady was screaming, ‘Don’t shoot him, don’t shoot him.’’
The gunman ran away. Powell fell head-first out of the passenger’s side door onto the pavement.
A witness called 911 from a pay phone.
Powell died the following day at UAB Hospital.
Wesley Powell III was shot to death in 2001 at a Birmingham gas station.
Witherspoon is no stranger to the law, court records show.
In January 2001, he pleaded guilty to robbery and received a one-year suspended sentence.
The following year, in September 2002, he pleaded guilty to theft of property and was sentenced to two years in prison.
In 2007, Witherspoon was convicted of robbery and two counts of second-degree assault. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with five years to serve.
In 2016, his probation was terminated. He was last released from the Department of Corrections in November 2017.