Montgomery, AL – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a federal district court’s denial of habeas corpus relief for Wakilii Brown, who was sentenced to death for the 2001 killings of two women in Sylacauga.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the appellate court’s decision, which was issued Aug. 21, 2026. Brown was convicted in Talladega County Circuit Court and sentenced to death on May 5, 2008.
The case stems from the deaths of 26-year-old Cherea Jemison and her mother, 49-year-old Dotty Jemison, in March 2001. Investigators discovered the women inside Dotty Jemison’s Sylacauga home shortly before midnight on March 11.
According to court records and information released by the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, both women died from multiple blunt-force injuries to the head and neck. Investigators determined they had been dead for approximately 36 to 48 hours when their bodies were discovered. Dotty Jemison was found gagged and bound at the wrists and ankles with duct tape.
Authorities later tracked Brown, who had been Cherea Jemison’s boyfriend, to his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. According to the Attorney General’s Office, Brown barricaded himself inside an apartment while armed with a gun and refused to surrender for nearly 25 hours. Police ultimately used tear gas before taking him into custody.
Authorities said Brown had fled Alabama in Cherea Jemison’s vehicle and had taken her three children with him. The vehicle and Jemison’s checkbook were later found near the Cleveland apartment where Brown was arrested. The children were located at Brown’s mother’s home in Cleveland.
Brown was subsequently convicted on three counts of capital murder. A jury recommended the death penalty, and the trial court imposed the sentence.
His convictions and death sentence were upheld on direct appeal, and subsequent state post-conviction proceedings ended without relief. Brown later sought federal habeas corpus relief in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, which denied his petition.
The Eleventh Circuit has now affirmed that decision.
Marshall praised Assistant Attorney General Henry M. Johnson for his work representing the state in the case.
