Waldrop pleads guilty in baby’s death
A Red Bay man originally found guilty of capital murder in 2007 whose conviction was overturned on appeal accepted a plea offer for murder during a hearing Tuesday morning.
Jody Wayne Waldrop, 33, formerly of Red Bay, pleaded guilty to murder and was given a life sentence by Circuit Judge Terry Dempsey.
Waldrop was originally charged with capital murder in 2005 for his role in the death of his three-week-old son, Chance.
A jury found Waldrop guilty of capital murder in August of 2007 following a week-long trial. Waldrop was given the death sentence by Dempsey, but the conviction was reversed in March of 2010 by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.
As grounds for the reversal, the court cited a comment was made during the trial concerning Waldrop’s previous assault conviction in Mississippi and Dempsey did not instruct jurors that the comment could not be used as evidence to convict Waldrop of capitol murder.
Waldrop, who was previously held in Atmore at Holman Correctional Facility’s death row, was transferred to Franklin County Jail before his plea Tuesday.
During the original trial in 2007, testimony revealed the baby was left in Waldrop’s care for a 30 minute period on the evening of Sept. 22, 2005.
According to reports, the child’s mother, Starlet Waldrop, left the baby with Waldrop while she visited her grandmother. When she returned the baby was not breathing and appeared to have injuries to his head.
Several theories arose during the trial as to why Waldrop intentionally killed his son, but Rushing said during the hearing on Tuesday that the state contends Waldrop shook the baby because he was angry that the child was crying and as a direct result of his violent shaking, the baby died.
“Jody Waldrop’s actions that day would at least rise to the level of reckless murder,” Rushing said.
When asked by Dempsey if those facts were correct and if he agreed, Waldrop responded, “Yes.”
Dempsey sentenced Waldrop to life in prison, a sentence that will run concurrent with the escape case he is currently serving time for.
After he was sentenced, a visibly emotional Waldrop requested to address his ex-wife, Starlet Waldrop, directly.
“I apologize for everything that happened to Chance,” Waldrop said.
Rushing said he was pleased with the outcome of Tuesday’s hearing.
“Even though Waldrop was found guilty of capital murder once, there is always the risk that a jury could find him guilty of manslaughter based on the circumstantial evidence, so I believe this was an acceptable offer,” Rushing said. “It at least provides the opportunity for [Waldrop] to be in prison until he dies.”
Rushing added that defendants given a life sentence on a Class A felony typically wouldn’t be considered for parole for at least 15 to 18 years.
“Starlet was aware of the plea and agreed with it,” Rushing said. “She always wanted [Waldrop] to spend his life thinking about what he did to their son.
“We told her that no matter when he comes up for parole, we will continue to fight to make sure he stays in prison for the whole life sentence.”
