Tuscaloosa Capital Murder Suspect Enters Plea, Gets 30 Years For Fatal Shooting

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge Allen W. May has sentenced a Tuscaloosa man to 30 years in prison for a 2019 fatal shooting that left a man dead on Clearview Street.

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According to court documents obtained by Patch, Calvin Eugene Smith entered a guilty plea to murder on May 26 after initially being charged with capital murder in the killing of Cory Mitchell around 11 p.m. on June 27, 2019.

The sentencing order was then handed down on Tuesday. Smith is represented by defense attorneys Stuart Albea and Jaime Conger.

As Patch previously reported, Mitchell was gunned down in the front yard of his home on Clearview Street during what investigators believed was a suspected drug deal.

During the shooting, Smith was sitting in the back seat of an SUV, with his friend Bernest Brown in the front passenger seat and Brown's girlfriend, Sheana Gibson, driving.

Smith was ultimately indicted on the capital murder charge in August 2019 after a search warrant was conducted the previous month on the 2014 Chevrolet Equinox belonging to Gibson.

Neither Brown nor Gibson were charged in connection to the shooting — a notion lamented by Josie Dunning, Mitchell's mother, during the sentencing hearing.

The SUV also raised questions due to the handling of evidence, but ultimately had no major bearing on the outcome of the court proceedings at present.

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