Tuscaloosa Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For Deadly 2023 Shooting

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A Tuscaloosa man found guilty of murder in the 2023 shooting death of Rufus Tyrone Carter IV will serve life in prison after receiving his sentence on Tuesday.

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Reginal Peoples appeared before Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge Daniel F. Pruet for sentencing after a jury in April found him guilty of murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and reckless endangerment of a child after a two-day trial.

As Patch previously reported, prosecutors argued that Peoples intentionally shot Carter multiple times following years of conflict between the two men.

Defense attorneys, however, maintained that Carter had been intoxicated and acting aggressively prior to the shooting and sought a confrontation with Peoples.

New revelations also surfaced during Tuesday's hearing, specifically the fact that Peoples was charged with numerous unrelated felony drug offenses on Sept. 11, 2023 — just a few months after he had been released on bond following the deadly shooting.

Before the sentencing hearing for his murder conviction, Peoples entered guilty pleas on the following charges and received the corresponding sentences, each to be served concurrently:

• Unlawful distribution of a controlled substance (20 years)
• Trafficking (20 years)
• Possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute (20 years)
• Failure to affix a tax stamp (three counts, five years)
• First-degree possession of marijuana (five years)
• Unlawful possession of a controlled substance (five years)

Assistant District Attorney Ashley Ross, along with her co-counsel and fellow ADA Monica Rogers, prosecuted the case and Ross provided the state's sentencing recommendation of 40 years on the murder conviction.

"[Carter] was not armed," Ross told the court. "No gun was found on his person and no gun was found in his car."

She went on to say that Peoples made the "calculated decisions" to get dressed, go outside where Carter was and then go to his vehicle because he knew he had a loaded gun under one of the seats.

"He didn't fire once, he didn't fire twice, he fired 12 times," Ross pointed out.

As Patch previously reported, defense attorneys for Peoples argued at trial that Carter was drunk and acting belligerent when he arrived at the home on Queen City Avenue just before 7:30 p.m. on March 30, 2023.

Prosecutors, however, argued throughout the trial that Peoples had grown fed up with Carter's behavior over the years and intentionally shot him a total of five times.

Ross also mentioned during the sentencing hearing Tuesday that the shot that proved fatal to Carter hit him in the back of the leg as he ran away, severing his femoral artery and causing him to bleed to death shortly after crashing his car into a fence at a nearby business.

"When [Carter] fell down, [Peoples] stopped shooting and started shooting again when [Carter] got back up," Ross said, before reminding the court that Carter was trying to get back to his car where his wife and their small child were waiting for him.

Ross went on to underscore the fact that Peoples lied to investigators about what he did with the gun used in the shooting — a piece of evidence that was never recovered.

Following the state's comments, Judge Pruet heard from Carter's wife and brother, both of whom spoke to the far-reaching impact had by Peoples' violent actions.

Carter's wife told the court that in the wake of the shooting she was diagnosed with clinical depression, in addition to seeing her financial situation drastically worsen without Carter around to help with expenses.

"Everything changed that day," she said.

"[Carter] didn't get to hear 'Happy Father's Day," and never will again," the victim's brother added. "He liked to drink his drink but his favorite past time was his family."

Tuscaloosa County Public Defender Joseph P. Van Heest represented Peoples at trial and asked Judge Pruet for a 20-year sentence for his client during the hearing on Tuesday.

"He is remorseful and sorry and he can not do anything about what has already happened," Van Heest said, before going on to point out that "this is not a standard murder case."

Van Heest then reiterated the defense's longstanding position that Carter was intoxicated and antagonistic when he put his wife and small child in danger by driving to Peoples' house for a confrontation.

"[Carter] went to pick a fight," he said.

When asking for a lenient sentence for his client, Van Heest told the court that Peoples, who sat in a wheelchair during the trial and sentencing, has spent almost all of his time behind bars in the medical dorm at the Tuscaloosa County Jail.

As Patch previously reported, Peoples has limited mobility due to complications from being shot on two separate occasions prior to being charged with murder.

The night of the shooting, he used a walker to get to his vehicle, where he retrieved the gun he used to kill Carter.

Van Heest said after three years in jail, Peoples' legs have atrophied even more and his health will ultimately put him at even more risk once he is transferred to the Alabama Department of Corrections to serve out his prison sentence.

When both sides finished their statements, Judge Pruet acknowledged that while some aspects of the case were "not a straightforward murder case," others were indicative that Peoples' intended to kill Carter.

"You did go to the [Tuscaloosa Police Department after the shooting] but you lied when you got there and you lied about how you got there," Judge Pruet said.

Judge Pruet also mentioned the audio of the shooting that was presented at trial, which he said stood "in stark contrast" to some of the assertions made by Peoples' defense attorneys.

He then sentenced Peoples to life in prison for the murder conviction, along with concurrent sentences of 20 years for shooting into an occupied vehicle and a year with time already served for reckless endangerment of a child.

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