Joshua Russell Convicted of Capital Murder in Connection with Death of Officer Justin Sollohub

Joshua Russell has been convicted of capital murder by a Lee County jury in connection with the 2011 shooting death of Anniston Police Officer Justin Sollohub.

The verdict was returned approximately four hours after the jury began deliberations.

According to ABC 33/40, defense attorney John Robbins claimed Russell didn’t intend to kill the officer, and he asked the jury to convict his client of reckless manslaughter, as opposed to capital murder – however, that didn’t happen.

Robbins said he plans to have several witnesses testify on Russell’s behalf, during the sentencing portion of the trial – where prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

Russell has a prior criminal record having been sentenced back in 2009 to five years in prison for four convictions on drug distribution and obstruction of justice; he was granted early release after serving just over a year of his sentence.

Officer Sollohub had stopped Russell on August 24th of 2011for an outstanding warrant and was patting him down – when the suspect ran and ended up shooting the officer in the head with a .22 caliber pistol during the foot chase; Sollohub died the following day.

(ABC/3340)

Russell - Guilty

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