Medical furlough denied for convicted Dothan killer: Report
The family of an inmate serving 99 years for a Dothan murder insists on his release because he is terminally ill, al.com reported on Tuesday.
DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) - The family of an inmate serving 99 years for a Dothan murder insists on his release because he is terminally ill, al.com reported on Tuesday.
However, according to that report, the Alabama Department of Corrections denied Antonio Arnez Smith’s request for a medical furlough that is occasionally given to certain inmates with short life expediencies.
The website reported that Smith’s sister, Travella Casey, provided medical records showing that he has a lung mass and receives chemotherapy.
She said until becoming ill, he was serving time at a minimum-security honor farm.
In 2019, ADOC granted medical furlough to another convicted killer from Dothan because of his short life expectancy.
However, for reasons never made public, Billy Ray Marchman returned to prison within a few days and is still alive four years after his brief release.
Related: After serving short sentence murderer released
Marchman killed his wife, Pamela Stewart Marchman, whom he had recently married. After shooting her six times at the couple’s Dothan home, he shot himself in the head.
Police and the victim’s family vehemently opposed his release and his case put medical furloughs in the spotlight.
“This situation has really dug up a lot of emotions that I think that my brother (Dustin) and I have tried to bury because it’s too painful,” Kristen Murkerson, the victim’s daughter, told News4 a few weeks before ADOC released his mother’s killer.
Related: Lawmaker concerned about inmate’s release
Several years ago, the state legislature passed the Medical Furlough Act that allows Alabama’s prison commissioner to release inmates who are terminally ill.
Smith, convicted of killing his girlfriend LeKendra Kirkland in 2000, is receiving care while in custody, ADOC told al.com.
He was sentenced in 2000 by now-retired Houston County Circuit Judge Denny Holloway.
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