Alabama
April 28, 2005
6:00 PM CST
The state of Alabama is scheduled to execute Mario Centobie April 28. Centobie was sentenced to death for the 1998 fatal shooting of Moody Police Officer Keith Turner in St. Clair. The police officer was killed after Centobie and Jeremy Granberry escaped from Missisippi authorities while being held for another crime.
Centobie was also given three life prison terms for the wounding of Tuscaloosa police Capt. Cecil Lancaster.
Centobie’s trial took place in Elmore County due to the amount of publicity surrounding the St. Clair County area where the shooting took place. During his trial, Centobie gave jurors a dramatic, play-by-play account of his crime including pointing his fingers to represent a gun and shouting “Bang.” During his appeals proceedings, Centobie acted as his own attorney.
He claimed he had to shoot Turner but did not intend to kill him.
In 1994, four years before the crime, Centobie was recognized for his service with fire and rescue workers after an Amtrak train crashed in Mobile in 1994.
He was abandoned by his father at the age of four after his parents divorced. His mother sought a divorce on the grounds of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment by Centobie’s father. At the age of 20, Centobie shot himself in the stomach with a shotgun because he was distraught. He married but later divorced. His wife requested a restraining order citing habitual cruel and inhuman treatment.
Centobie has dropped his appeals and is not seeking clemency. Please take a moment to write Gov. Riley protesting Alabama’s collusion in this state-assisted suicide.
