A former Montgomery police officer who was convicted of killing an unarmed man in February 2016 was set free after reaching a plea deal with the Alabama attorney general.
Aaron Cody Smith was sentenced to spend 14 years in prison in January 2020 for the death of Greg Gunn.
Smith stopped 58-year-old Gunn just after 3 a.m. on Feb. 25, 2016, as Gunn was walking home from a friend’s house after a card game. When Smith, who was 23 at the time, started frisking and searching Gunn, Gunn ran away from the patdown.
Smith chased, tased, and beat Gunn with his baton he admitted. The former officer claims Gunn tried to defend himself with a long paint roller he picked up from a neighbor’s porch, upon which Smith shot Gunn. He fired off seven shots, five of which hit Gunn.
Gunn died just steps away from the home he shared with his mother. There is no bodycam footage of the shooting because Smith did not activate his body camera at the time.
Smith was originally charged with murder, but a jury ultimately found him guilty on the lesser charge of manslaughter in November 2019.
After his sentencing two months later, he remained free on bond as he made appeals in 2020 and 2022, which were rejected.
Smith began serving his prison sentence on May 10, 2022. When the state supreme court rejected his appeal in December of that year, he filed what is known as a Rule 32 petition seeking to overturn his conviction.
The ex-cop was released from prison nearly eight years to the day after the shooting. He only served 21 months of his sentence.
The office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall assumed control of Smith’s case from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office earlier this month but never specified why, according to WSFA.
Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey released a statement on Facebook after the decision was made saying he had “no choice but to comply with the Attorney General’s directive” and was “deeply disappointed” that he couldn’t continue prosecuting the case.
Just a few weeks after Marshall took over the case, his office announced it came to a plea deal with Smith, allowing him to plead guilty to manslaughter — the same charge he was convicted of and sentenced for — and be released immediately from prison.
“I firmly believe that Mr. Smith was due a new trial, but after eight years of watching this protracted litigation, I exerted my authority to bring this case to a close,” Marshall said in a statement. “Mr. Smith has pleaded guilty to the offense for which he was convicted, in exchange for returning to his family. I believe that this is a fair and appropriate outcome.”
Marshall said he spent time with the Gunn family and was “acutely aware of the pain and suffering” they experienced, but shared that he hoped they would “find some closure and healing with this matter finally resolved.”
Bailey sent AL.com a statement about Smith’s release, which said he was “very disappointed (Smith) is being released early, which is a privilege not afforded to most convicted killers.”
Before he was shot and killed, Gunn was taking care of his 80-year-old mother. He was the second-born of eight siblings in his family and was the first to graduate college and take care of his family after his eldest brother died of cancer and his parents divorced.
His father, Frank Gunn Jr., was reportedly one of the first Black police officers to be sworn into the Montgomery Police Department.
