Marcus Presley: 1996 Pawn Shop Murders and 2024 Resentencing

Marcus Presley is an Alabama man who, at sixteen, committed a string of 1996 armed robberies and murders that put him on death row before he could vote. After the U.S. Supreme Court barred the death penalty and later mandatory life-without-parole for juvenile offenders, his sentence was revisited twice. In September 2024, a Shelby County judge resentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the double murder at a Westover pawn shop, closing one of the longest-running juvenile-sentencing cases in the state.¹

The 1996 Crimes

Between April and July 1996, Presley, often joined by his older cousin LaSamuel Gamble, carried out at least six armed robberies around Birmingham and Clanton, hitting convenience stores, a fireworks shop, a produce company, a liquor store, and a state ABC store. Several victims were shot and wounded.²

The Killing of Marvin Smith

On the night of May 18, 1996, Presley walked into a Citgo convenience store on Jefferson Avenue in Birmingham, bought a soft drink, came back to the counter for Tylenol, and then drew a .44 caliber pistol on 26-year-old clerk Marvin Smith. Smith tried to run. Presley leaned across the counter and shot him once in the back. Smith collapsed outside the store and died shortly after arriving at the hospital. No money was taken. A surveillance camera captured the shooting.²³

The Pawn Shop Double Murder

On July 25, 1996, Presley, Gamble, and a third participant, Steven McKenzie, drove to John’s 280 Pawn on U.S. Highway 280 in Westover. McKenzie stayed in the car. Store video showed Presley entering alone first to look around, then returning roughly thirty minutes later with Gamble. Both were armed. They forced 44-year-old owner John Burleson and 48-year-old manager Janice Littleton to the floor and spent about half an hour taking 33 firearms, jewelry, and roughly $2,300 in cash. Presley then shot both victims in the head. Burleson was dead when officers arrived; Littleton died at the hospital.⁴⁵

Original prosecutor Randy Hillman later said the two spent “almost 14 minutes” shopping in the store before executing the victims on the way out.⁶

Arrest in Virginia

The day after the pawn shop killings, the three fled Alabama by bus for the Boston area. Boston police arrested McKenzie on August 1, 1996, and recovered several stolen handguns. His statements led investigators to his co-defendants. On August 9, the FBI’s Violent Fugitives Task Force, working with state and local officers, arrested Presley and Gamble at an apartment near 34th and Granby streets in Norfolk, Virginia. Neither was armed. They were held without bond in the Norfolk City Jail pending extradition to Alabama.⁷

Tried as an Adult, Sentenced to Death Twice

Presley was sixteen at the time of the killings but was tried as an adult. He already had a criminal record: a March 1996 conviction for receiving stolen property had left him on probation when the robbery spree began.²

In September 1997, a Shelby County jury convicted him of two counts of capital murder for the Burleson and Littleton killings and recommended death by an 11-to-1 vote. The trial court imposed a death sentence on October 10, 1997, and the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed it on January 15, 1999.⁸⁹

He was tried separately in Jefferson County for the capital murder of Marvin Smith, charged under Alabama’s statute covering murder during a first-degree robbery. The jury unanimously recommended death, and the court sentenced him to death by electrocution, finding three aggravating factors: he was on probation, he had a prior capital murder conviction from the pawn shop case, and the killing occurred during a robbery. His age was the only mitigating factor. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed on October 1, 1999, and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed on March 31, 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court denied review.²¹⁰

Why the Sentence Kept Changing

Presley’s sentencing history tracks three U.S. Supreme Court decisions about punishing people for crimes they committed as children.

Roper v. Simmons (2005) banned the death penalty for anyone under eighteen at the time of the offense. After about eight years on death row, Presley’s death sentence was converted to mandatory life without parole.⁶
Miller v. Alabama (2012) struck down mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders, requiring sentencing courts to weigh the “mitigating qualities of youth” before imposing the harshest available punishment.¹¹
Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016) made Miller retroactive, entitling everyone already serving mandatory juvenile life-without-parole sentences to a new hearing.¹²

In June 2013, represented by Charlotte Morrison of the Equal Justice Initiative, Presley petitioned Jefferson County Circuit Court to have his mandatory sentence set aside under Miller. He was then incarcerated at the Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer.¹³

The 2024 Resentencing

On September 13, 2024, after a two-day hearing in Shelby County, Circuit Judge Jonathan Spann resentenced Presley, then 44, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the pawn shop murders. The hearing was required so the court could consider whether a parole-eligible sentence was appropriate under the Supreme Court’s rulings. Judge Spann concluded it was not.¹

Retired Shelby County investigators Russell Yawn and Michael DeHart testified about the original investigation, and the state, the defense, and the victims’ families addressed the court. District Attorney Brooke Grigsby told reporters that in 27 years of incarceration there had been “no positive change” in Presley that would warrant a lesser sentence.⁶

District Attorney Matt Casey pointed to the burden on the victims’ families. “It is unfathomable to me that we are still dealing with the consequences of Marcus Presley’s brutal crimes almost 30 years after they were committed. We’re thankful that he remains sentenced to the highest penalty that the law allows, and we hope that the families of the two victims will be able to find some closure.”⁴

Tina Burleson, the wife of John Burleson, spoke after the ruling. “I remember when it first happened and I said to my children, I said I’ll die and nothing will ever happen. I’ll never see true justice, but today I felt like I saw as much justice as is going to be possible under our judicial system,” she said.⁶

Presley is currently held at Limestone Correctional Facility in Alabama. No appeal of the September 2024 resentencing has been publicly reported.¹

What Happened to the Co-Defendants

LaSamuel Gamble, eighteen at the time of the pawn shop robbery, was convicted of two counts of capital murder in November 1998, and the trial court sentenced him to death after a 10-to-2 jury recommendation.⁵ In 2007, Shelby County Circuit Judge Michael Joiner overturned the death sentence after finding that Gamble’s original attorneys had not investigated or presented substantial mitigation about his childhood, including an abusive alcoholic father who accidentally killed Gamble’s infant sister and a mother who abandoned him when he was small. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed that ruling in October 2010.¹⁴ In October 2012, then-Attorney General Luther Strange agreed to a life-without-parole sentence, and Gamble waived his right to appeal in exchange; Circuit Judge Dan Reeves imposed the new sentence on October 11, 2012.¹⁵

Steven McKenzie, who stayed in the car during the pawn shop robbery, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder. His cooperation led to the arrests of Presley and Gamble. The available court records do not specify the length of his sentence.¹⁶

1
AL.com. Man Re-Sentenced to Life in Prison in 1996 Shelby County Pawn Shop Double Murder
2
Findlaw. Presley v. State, CR-98-0853
3
vlex. Presley v. State
4
Shelby County Reporter. Man Resentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole for 1996 Westover Murders
5
Findlaw. Gamble v. State
6
WBRC. Man Convicted of Killing 2 People at Shelby Co. Pawn Shop Resentenced to Life Without Parole
7
Virginia-Pilot. Cousins Arrested in Norfolk in Seven Slayings
8
Justia. Pressley v. State, 770 So. 2d 115
9
vlex. Pressley v. State, 770 So. 2d 115
10
Justia. Ex Parte Presley, 770 So. 2d 114
11
Justia. Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460
12
Equal Justice Initiative. Ten Years After Miller v. Alabama
13
AL.com. Bessemer Man Serving Life Without Parole Files for New Sentencing
14
Equal Justice Initiative. Alabama Court Grants Relief to Death Row Inmates Larry Smith and LaSamuel Gamble
15
AL.com. Life Without Parole Ordered in Gamble Case
16
vlex. State v. LaSamuel Lee Gamble