Guilty verdicts in murder-for-hire conspiracy case

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A jury Friday afternoon returned guilty verdicts for three defendants in the murder-for-hire conspiracy case that federal prosecutors described as a two-state reign of terror.

Prosecutors and lawyers of three men accused of conspiring to kill a man were handed over Closing arguments on Thursday in federal court. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gaillard Sam Ladd said two nightclub shootings within months of each other in Mobile in 2022, a shooting at a Walmart off Interstate 65 that same year and a murder during a carjacking attempt outside a casino in Mississippi He claimed they were linked.

Over two weeks, prosecutors presented evidence proving that John Fitzgerald McCarroll Jr. was the mastermind behind a failed plot to kill a man named Milton Carter in 2020 as revenge for the death of another man.

McCarroll’s girlfriend, Lyteria Hollis, and accused hitman Darius D. Rowser were also charged in the case. Rowser was accused of committing a shooting at the Paparazzi Lounge in the second overall failed attempt to kill Carter.

McCarroll and Rowser were convicted on all charges. Hollis was found guilty of everything except witness tampering.

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Prosecutors said a case of confusion led to the September 2022 shooting death of Derrick Shavers at the Bank Nightlife club on Azalea Road. Shooting at Paparazzi Lounge Four people were injured in the incident on Dauphin Street, including a young woman who is now paralyzed.

Prosecutors also said two other acts of violence were part of the conspiracy but were not an attempt on Carter’s life. They got involved Shot to death of Nicholaus Craig He was the victim of a shooting in his car outside the Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort in D’Iberville, Miss. walmart store Off I-65 in December 2022.

Hollis and Rowser did not testify during the hearing, and their attorneys did not call any witnesses to the stand. McCarroll remained on the stand for two days and denied any involvement in the shootings, the carjacking and murder in a Mississippi casino parking lot, or the shooting at Walmart.

Defendants could face life imprisonment. The sentence is planned to be determined in March.

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