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2 more in Lazenby case bound to grand jury

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Two more suspects in the murder of attorney Blake Lazenby were bound over to a grand jury at preliminary hearings Friday morning.

Talladega County District Judge Ryan Rumsey declared there is probable cause for the charges against Ocie Lee Lynch, 30, and Charles Andrew Joseph Hendrix, 21, both of Birmingham.

Lynch is charged with two counts of capital murder committed during a burglary in the first degree. Hendrix is charged with the same two counts and one count of theft of property for allegedly stealing Lazenby’s 2009 GMC Yukon.

A previously unreported arrest in the case was also revealed.

Jeremy Lee Cade, 22, of Birmingham was arrested in September and charged with first-degree theft of property and receiving stolen property. Cade bonded out of Talladega County Jail in November for $60,000. His preliminary hearing was waived, and his case is also bound over to a grand jury.

During separate hearings for Lynch and Hendrix, the state called District Attorney Investigator Mike McBurnett as a witness. McBurnett presented recorded statements from each of the defendants.

Lynch admitted he was involved in the murder, but said he did not shoot or stab Lazenby and only intended to burglarize his house.

“My goal was to go in there and take stuff out,” Lynch said. “My goal wasn’t none of this killing this man, but it went wrong.”

Lynch said planning for the murder began a year before when Earnest Files Jr., 56, of Alexander City approached Calvin McCall Haynes, 30, of Birmingham about killing his girlfriend’s husband for $85,000. Files and Haynes are each charged with criminal solicitation of and conspiracy to commit murder in the case.

“(Files) said the attorney’s wife was offering to pay the money to put a hit out on him,” Lynch said. “Earnest got mad at the lawyer because he was dating this man’s wife, and he wanted to get the lawyer out of the way, because I guess he was interfering with them going together.”

Hendrix said he was offered $40,000 to ride with them to Lazenby’s house, and the rest of the money would go to Lynch. He, too, said Files contacted Haynes on behalf of his girlfriend.

When McBurnett asked why Files’ girlfriend wanted Lazenby dead, Hendrix said that “she wanted a divorce and she wanted insurance or something.”

At the time of his death, Lazenby was involved in a four-year divorce battle with Geanne Elder Lazenby, 56, his wife of 23 years.

No charges have been filed against Geanne Lazenby.

Lynch said that on the day of the murder, he, Hendrix and Cade waited for Lazenby to get home and then approached him as he entered the back door of his house.

“He was trying to get to the door,” Lynch said. “Then I told him we wasn’t going to kill him, which I didn’t have the pistol, Charles had the pistol. And I told him, ‘We ain’t going to kill you; it’s just a robbery, that’s all it is.’”

Lynch said Lazenby entered his house, and Hendrix shot him.

“(Lazenby) was still talking,” Lynch said. “He said he was bleeding, get some help, call the ambulance. I said we might as well scrap out of here, so we leave, and Charles went back and got the knife out that drawer.”

Lynch said Hendrix stabbed Lazenby, and then they left.

However, Hendrix told a different account in his statement.

“Ocie went up to (Lazenby) with a gun out,” he said.

Hendrix said Lynch shot Lazenby through a glass door, but Lazenby was still alive and asking for an ambulance. He said Lynch then asked for a knife, so Hendrix gave him a knife he got from inside the house and Lynch stabbed Lazenby.

Hendrix said he and Lynch then got into Lazenby’s truck and he drove it to Tarrant, where they met Files and Haynes.

“Ocie got the gas from (Haynes) and burned the car up,” Hendrix said.

He said they stayed in a hotel in Cahaba that night and went to Cade’s house the next day to get paid, but they never received any money. Lynch also said he was never paid, and said the only person who got paid was Haynes, who received $2,000.

In McBurnett’s interview with Lynch, McBurnett said he has evidence that Lynch was the one who shot Lazenby, which includes a recording of Lynch telling a friend he did it.

Lynch said he did tell people he killed Lazenby, but it was only to ensure he got his portion of the $85,000.

“When you look at my record, all of mine is receiving stolen property,” Lynch said. “It ain’t got nothing about nobody being killed or nothing like that. That ain’t my M.O. When this happened, and everybody is looking at the news and everything, that’s when I said I did it to get paid the money.”

Cade, whose preliminary hearing was waived, brings the total number of arrests in the case to five, although District Attorney Steve Giddens said the investigation is ongoing. All five defendants have now been bound over to a grand jury.

Lazenby’s body was found at his home on Stonehill Road July 27, 2011. The cause of death was multiple gunshot and stab wounds.

Lazenby practiced law for nearly 30 years in the area and served as partner in the Talladega law firm Wooten, Thornton, Carpenter, O’Brien, Lazenby and Lawrence.

Solicitation of and conspiracy to commit murder are Class A felonies in Alabama, punishable upon conviction by 10 to 99 years or life in prison. Conviction for capital murder carries a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole or death by lethal injection. First-degree theft of property and receiving stolen property are Class B felonies and carry a sentence of two to 20 years in prison.

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Keywords: Blake Lazenby, grand jury, murder, suspects, Talladega County,

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