JACKSON COUNTY, Ala. ( WHNT ) — The case of a man charged with murder at a Scottsboro business has been dismissed months after a ‘Stand Your Ground’ hearing.
On September 6, a circuit judge dismissed the indictment of Jerry Carl Hicks. Hicks was charged with murder for the death of Aaron Morris Nix in April 2023.
Florence Fire: Crews respond to house fire on Enterprise Street Court documents filed on September 6 show Hicks is entitled to and given “immunity from criminal prosecution”‘ The court found Hicks proved his actions were “justified.”
On April 7, 2023, the Scottsboro Police Department said officers responded to a shooting at a business at 9:35 p.m. When officers arrived, they said they found Nix dead with a gunshot wound.
After the initial investigation, Hicks was arrested and charged with murder with his bond later set at $150,000. He posted his bond on May 4, 2023, by using property as collateral.
The indictment, handed down from a Jackson County grand jury, said Hicks, “ did intentionally cause the death of [Nix], by shooting him with a gun. ” His pre-trial hearing was set for August 7, 2023, and an arraignment was set for August 2, 2023.
The ‘Stand Your Ground’ order was granted on April 30.
Social media threat not directed towards Madison City Schools During testimony at the hearing on October 12, 2023, Hicks stated that Nix came out of the bathroom inside a Mexican restaurant yelling about a kid in the bathroom by themself. Hicks said his kid was the one in the bathroom, so he asked Nix why he was yelling as he walked by – but Nix didn’t respond.
Hicks testified Nix was talking to someone in the kitchen as he went to pay and his wife and child went out to the car.
When Hicks walked out of the restaurant, he says he went out a different set of doors than Nix and walked toward his car, but testified that Nix also walked directly towards his [Hicks’s] vehicle.
Hicks said he asked Nix why he was coming to his car and they exchanged a few words, then he asked Nix to, “Go to your car. Leave me alone.” Hicks said in his testimony Nix shoved him and then hit him about three times.
Victim identified after shooting at Athens apartment complex Court documents show Hicks told Nix, “I have a gun on me. Leave me alone.”
In his testimony, Hicks said Nix threatened him then reached into his waistband and stepped towards him. Hicks said that is when he pulled out his gun and shot him one time. Hicks said he then put his weapon on safe, put it back in the holster and went into the restaurant to call 911.
The officer who arrived first on scene testified as well at the hearing, saying Hicks complied with instructions and she cuffed him. The officer went on to say that after she read Hicks his Miranda Rights, he asked for a lawyer but continued talking voluntarily.
Court documents show Hicks told the officer Nix yelled at him for letting his kid go to the bathroom by himself and hit him three times before he shot at Nix. However, the officer testified that Hicks didn’t say to her that Nix was going for a weapon.
Nix’s sister, Valarie Snodgrass, gave two statements: one written statement directly after the incident and then her testimony. Court documents show she is the only eyewitness who testified other than Hicks.
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The documents state her in-court testimony is different from the statement she gave directly after the events and her story is different than Hicks’s, but that the statements are “not all that different.” Snodgrass testified that Hicks has directed racial slurs at Nix, but Hicks denied doing so.
In Snodgrass’ testimony, she said Hicks was the “verbal aggressor” and provoked Nix using racial slurs. She said that she saw her brother follow Hicks to his car, said Nix got close to Hicks in “not a friendly conversation”, saw Hicks get hit in the side of the face and said she watched Hicks rocking back and forth against his car.
She said she warned her brother that Hicks had a gun saying “Come on, Aaron. He’s got a gun. He’s got a gun,” but Nix ignored her. She also testified that Hicks shot his gun multiple times which was different from Hicks’s testimony, but the document shows there was no evidence to back up that statement.
After evidence and testimony was presented at the hearing, the court decided Hicks was “justified in using physical force” to defend himself or others from what was believed to be a dangerous situation.
The court’s decision was based on the fact that Alabama’s self-defense statute “modifies that common-law rule, giving any victim the right to ‘stand his or her ground’ and refuse to retreat” if the victim is justified to use physical force.
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