AL.com – By Gary McElroy – Staff Reporter
John Burton committed manslaughter, not murder, when he killed Carlos Randolph with a pair of scissors in September 2007, a jury declared Thursday in a Mobile courtroom.
The decision was presented to Circuit Judge Rick Stout after four hours of deliberation over two days.
Burton, 30, who had broken down in a fit of wails on the witness stand the day before, accepted Thursday’s verdict with no display of emotion. There also was no visible reaction from the court room crowded with the defendant’s and the victim’s supporters, as a dozen deputies and court police looked on.