Eleventh Circuit Upholds Capital Murder Convictions in 2001 Talladega County Double Homicide

Wakilii Brown (Alabama Department of Corrections)

T.L. Sullivan | The Weekly Ledger News | Area News | Saturday, August 29, 2026

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has upheld the capital murder convictions and death sentence of Wakilii Brown in connection with a 2001 double homicide in Talladega County, according to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

Marshall announced that the appellate court affirmed the Northern District of Alabama’s denial of habeas corpus relief for Brown on Aug. 21, 2026.

Brown was convicted in Talladega County Circuit Court and sentenced to death on May 5, 2008.

According to information released by the Attorney General’s Office, Brown was convicted in the deaths of his 26-year-old girlfriend, Cherea Jemison, and her mother, 49-year-old Dotty Jemison.

The two women were found dead inside Dotty Jemison’s Sylacauga home shortly before midnight on March 11, 2001. Authorities said both had suffered multiple blunt-force injuries to the head and neck from a claw hammer. Investigators estimated the women had been dead between 36 and 48 hours when they were discovered.

Dotty Jemison had also been gagged and bound at the wrists and ankles with duct tape.

Investigators later tracked Brown to his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, where authorities said he barricaded himself inside an apartment while armed with a gun. The standoff lasted nearly 25 hours before police used multiple canisters of tear gas and took Brown into custody.

Authorities said Brown fled Alabama in Cherea Jemison’s vehicle and took her checkbook and three children with him. The vehicle was later located near the Cleveland apartment, while the children were found at Brown’s mother’s residence.

Brown was ultimately convicted on three counts of capital murder. A jury recommended the death penalty, and the trial court imposed that sentence.

His convictions and sentence were later affirmed on direct appeal, and his state post-conviction proceedings ended without relief. The Northern District of Alabama also denied his request for federal habeas relief before the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that ruling.

Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Henry M. Johnson for his work on the case.

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