Brian Thomas Mann Case: Lead Poisoning, Life Sentence, and Appeal

The Brian Thomas Mann case ended with the former Hartselle, Alabama chiropractor convicted of attempted murder in June 2025 for poisoning his wife, Hannah Pettey Mann, with lead over several months, sentenced to life in prison that August, and his conviction affirmed by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in June 2026.¹ He is incarcerated at Limestone Correctional Facility.

How Mann Poisoned His Wife

Mann ran a chiropractic practice called Advanced Chiropractic in Decatur. The X-ray room of that office was lined with soft lead sheeting. According to trial testimony and the CBS 48 Hours investigation, Mann scraped shavings from that lead, packed them into empty supplement capsules, and gave the capsules to Hannah every night, telling her they were vitamins.² Investigators determined the daily poisoning ran for at least three months before she was hospitalized.

Hannah’s symptoms escalated from severe pain and nausea to weakness that left her unable to walk or care for the couple’s two children. She testified that Brian discouraged her from seeking medical care, and that on one night when she was too sick to swallow, he insisted she take the capsules he had left on her nightstand.³

The Hospitalization That Exposed the Crime

On January 18, 2022, after Hannah suffered a severe seizure, her mother Nicole Pettey drove her to the University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital. Doctors said she was “starving to death” and had only hours to live.² Eight days into her admission, a neurologist found that her colon and bones were packed with lead. Her blood lead level was in the 80s. A safe adult level is near 10.³

Dr. Felicia Hataway of UAB testified that Hannah needed around-the-clock colon irrigation and had to be temporarily paralyzed to prevent dangerous spikes in brain pressure. Hataway concluded the lead could only have entered her body through ingestion, and hospital staff concluded early in her admission that this was a criminal poisoning. Hannah was placed in a medical coma for nearly 48 hours, hallucinated during recovery, and was told the poisoning had left her unable to have more children.²

How Investigators Traced the Lead to Mann’s Office

Hartselle Police Lieutenant Alan McDearmond opened an investigation on January 26, 2022, after the Morgan County Department of Human Resources flagged possible intentional poisoning. A search of the Mann home and testing by the Alabama Department of Public Health found no lead, and the case stalled.⁴

The break came from a contractor. Danny Hill contacted police to say he had installed eight rolls of soft lead sheeting in the walls of Mann’s X-ray room and that leftover lead had remained in Mann’s possession. In May 2023, Circuit Judge Charles Elliott signed a search warrant for the by-then-vacant Advanced Chiropractic office. McDearmond pulled lead from the X-ray room wall so it could be compared against lead particles extracted from Hannah’s body.⁴

Mann was arrested and charged with attempted murder in September 2022. He pleaded not guilty and was released on a $500,000 bond with an ankle monitor.⁵

The Trial in Morgan County

The trial opened in June 2025 at the Morgan County Courthouse in Decatur, with Judge Charles Elliott presiding. Chief Assistant District Attorney Garrick Vickery led the prosecution. Chad Morgan represented Mann.³

The state called seven witnesses and built the case on three points: medical proof of deliberate lead ingestion, Mann’s access to lead at his office, and a financial motive. Hannah testified that Brian had taken out five life insurance policies on her, naming himself the sole beneficiary, even though she was a stay-at-home mother with no outside income. An insurance agent called the arrangement “unusual.”⁶ The policies would have paid Mann over $1 million had Hannah died.³ 48 Hours reported that Mann tried to take out additional policies while Hannah was hospitalized, which would have pushed the total above $5 million.²

Prosecutors argued Mann had “the means, the motive and the opportunity” to kill his wife. Hartselle Police Chief Alan McDearmond testified that Hannah had endured years of mental abuse from Brian, and that the abuse “subsided” only once she became ill and he began giving her the tainted capsules.⁶

Hannah’s own testimony described a marriage that could look normal and even affectionate in stretches but ran through with physical fights and controlling behavior. Asked whether Brian was still the man she had fallen in love with, she answered, “No, I mean, I saw someone totally different.” She told the court she no longer believed he had ever loved her.²

The defense had lined up seven witnesses and, after hearing the state’s case, called none of them. Chad Morgan told the jury the prosecution relied on “assumptions and not evidence” and had not proved an “overt act.” He later described the no-witnesses decision as a “team decision” reached with Mann over lunch the day before, and said flatly after the verdict, “Obviously it wasn’t the right call.”³

On June 12, 2025, the jury found Mann guilty after deliberating less than three hours over two days. His bond was revoked immediately and he was taken to the Morgan County Jail.⁵

Life in Prison

On August 27, 2025, Judge Elliott sentenced Mann to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Elliott told the courtroom that in his six and a half years on the bench, he had “never seen a defendant snicker during closing arguments,” referring to Mann’s demeanor at trial. He said the sentencing gave him a chance to “feel like his job actually makes a difference and matters,” and asked the district attorney’s office to notify him personally whenever Mann becomes eligible for parole, saying he would drive to Montgomery himself to speak against it.⁷

Vickery, who had asked for the maximum, called the crime “a daily decision to kill his wife” and said he would join the judge in opposing any parole bid. Chad Morgan asked for mercy. Mann said nothing.⁸

The Appeal

On September 25, 2025, the defense filed a motion for acquittal and a new trial, arguing that the only established fact was that Hannah had lead poisoning, and that the source and method of ingestion were “pure speculation by the jury.” The motion also cited the absence of photographs of the specific tainted capsules and alleged improper hearsay. Judge Elliott denied the motion the same day it was filed.⁹

Mann’s attorneys took the case to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. On June 18, 2026, that court affirmed his conviction and life sentence.¹

Hannah Pettey After the Poisoning

Doctors had feared permanent cognitive damage. Instead, Hannah survived, earned a teaching degree, and began working as a teacher.² She filed for divorce on March 10, 2022, about two months after her hospitalization. The divorce was still unresolved in early 2026, with a bench trial scheduled for December 14, 2026. Judge Elliott granted Hannah and her two children exclusive occupancy of the family home in Hartselle, which had sat empty since Mann’s bond was revoked in June 2025. Mann stopped paying the mortgage at that point, leaving Hannah to cover it.¹⁰

1
WAFF. Alabama Court Affirms Conviction of Former Chiropractor Who Poisoned Wife
2
CBS News. Hannah Pettey Brian Mann Alabama Lead Poisoning Attempted Murder
3
WHNT. Jury Finds Brian Mann Guilty in Attempted Murder Trial
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Speakin Out Weekly News. Decatur Chiropractor May Have Used Lead From His X-Ray Room to Poison Wife, Police Say
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WAFF. Morgan County Chiropractor Convicted of Attempted Murder in Trial for Poisoning Wife
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Hartselle Enquirer. End of a Long Road: Chiropractor Found Guilty of Attempted Murder for Poisoning Wife
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Yahoo News. Judge Sentences Attempted Murderer to Life
8
WHNT. Brian Mann Sentenced to Life in Prison for Attempted Murder of Wife
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Hartselle Enquirer. Morgan County Judge Denies Motion for Acquittal in Chiropractor’s Attempted Murder Conviction
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Yahoo News. Judge Grants Hartselle Home to Wife