Calhoun County Murder Conviction Upheld
(Montgomery, Ala) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the
Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction of Teenya
Dashawn Heard, 47, of Oxford, for murder. Heard was convicted in the
Calhoun County Circuit Court on February 15, 2024.
The evidence at trial showed that on the evening of July 24, 2020, Heard
attended a birthday party and left her children at home with her
husband. Heard’s husband joined her later at the birthday party and
subsequently got into a confrontation with her. Heard produced a weapon
and threatened to kill her husband. When Heard returned home that
evening, she remained locked in her car with her gun in her lap. Her
husband came outside several times, the last time hitting her car window
at which point she shot and killed him. Heard claimed that the shooting
was an accident and that her husband threatened her, and she shot him in
self-defense. Those claims were rejected by the jury, and she was
convicted of murder.
Calhoun County District Attorney C. Lynn Hammond’s office successfully
prosecuted this case and obtained a guilty verdict. Heard was sentenced
to forty-five years’ imprisonment and had sought to have her
conviction reversed on appeal.
The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled the case during
the appeals process, arguing for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
to affirm Heard’s conviction. The Court did so in a decision issued
Friday, August 15, 2025.
Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Anne
Adams Hill for her successful work on this case and thanked District
Attorney C. Lynn Hammond and her staff, for their valuable assistance in
obtaining and defending the murder conviction.
