A 22-year-old Birmingham man will go on trial for murder this week after a judge denied him immunity from prosecution under Alabama’s Stand Your Ground law.
Emanuel Tolbert III is charged with murder in the October 2021 shooting death of 27-year-old Kealend Amad Pickens at a Bessemer home.
Police at the time said argument between the two men over the Alabama vs. Texas A&M football game led to the deadly shooting, but Tolbert said in a hearing Monday that they were arguing about who shot Tolbert in the head a week before.
Tolbert in his testimony before Jefferson County Circuit Judge David Carpenter said Pickens pistol-whipped him and brandished a gun and that’s why he shot him.
When the hearing ended, Carpenter said there wasn’t enough evidence to convince him the murder charge should be dropped but said the jury might still be given the opportunity to consider the Stand Your Ground defense.
Tolbert and others had gathered at his cousin’s house that Saturday night to watch the football game. The game was in its final minutes Saturday night when Bessemer police say the two men got into a dispute at the gathering in the 1000 block of Sixth Avenue North.
Police at the time said witnesses told them argument centered around which team was better. The homeowner’s brother asked the two men to leave because they were fighting.
Once outside, shots were fired, and Pickens was fatally struck. The shooting happened before the game ended.
Jefferson County Assistant District Attorney Chuantae Brown is prosecuting. Tolbert is defended by attorney Leroy Maxwell.
The Stand Your Ground law protects an individual from criminal prosecution if that person can prove that he or she used deadly force in self-defense or defense of another and:
- Reasonably believes that another person was using, or was about to use, deadly force
- He or she was not engaged in any criminal activity
- He or she was in a place where he or she has a right to be
Tolbert, Maxwell said, believed he was in imminent danger, was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was in a public space, where he had a right to be.
Tolbert testified that he was at his cousin’s house watching the football game when Pickens arrived and was acting “aggressive.”
He said Pickens argued first with his cousin, and then with Tolbert.
“It wasn’t over no game,’’ Tolbert said. “It was over me getting shot.”
“We were arguing over who shot me and he hit me in the head where I’d got shot,’’ he said. “We started tussling.”
The television was broken during the fight, and both men were asked to leave.
Tolbert said he told Pickens he could stay, that he was going to leave.
He said he took about four steps while outside and was hit in the head with a gun.
He claimed when he turned around, Pickens was pointing a gun at him.
“I was scared,’’ Tolbert said. “I thought he was fixing to kill me.”
“I thought my life was in danger, so I shot,’’ he said.
Prosecutor Brown contended that once Tolbert was forced to leave the party, he no longer had the right to be there, which is one of the criteria of the Stand Your Ground Law. She also noted that he fled the scene instead of waiting for police to arrive.
Under questioning by Brown, former Bessemer Det. Roger Eubanks said no witnesses reported seeing the victim with a gun, though Tolbert said he saw it as soon as Pickens entered the party.
Eubanks also said the gun found near the victim was inoperable – it was just the frame of a gun with no slide.
“Would a lay person know it wasn’t operable?’’ Maxwell asked the detective.
Eubanks replied, “It depends on their knowledge of guns.”
Testimony showed that Pickens was shot eight times.
Jury selection is expected to begin on Tuesday. Tolbert is out of jail on bond.
