In the early morning hours of July 26, 2015, the life of 18-year-old Cornelius Rayshard Morris was tragically cut short in Huntsville, Alabama. Morris, a male, was a passenger in a car with several other people, having just left a local strip club. It was then that shots were fired into the vehicle, a violent culmination of what prosecutors would later describe as an ongoing dispute.
Struck in the head by the gunfire, Morris was mortally wounded.
Another passenger, a 20-year-old woman named Alexis Crawford, was also hit and critically injured, suffering a gunshot wound to the stomach. In a desperate attempt to find help, the driver of the car sped to a Sunoco gas station at the intersection of Mastin Lake Road and Pulaski Pike. Despite their efforts, Morris succumbed to his injuries and died. Crawford, however, survived the shooting.
The investigation into the shooting led to the arrests of two cousins, Jeremy Cattage and Marquez Cattage. Both men were charged with capital murder for the death of Cornelius Morris, as well as first-degree assault and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling. The cousins were indicted by a Madison County Grand Jury and jailed without bond.
In April 2018, Jeremy Cattage stood trial for his role in the fatal shooting. After a weeklong trial, a jury found him guilty of capital murder. Madison County Circuit Judge Ruth Ann Hall subsequently sentenced Jeremy Cattage to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His cousin, Marquez Cattage, was also charged in connection with the incident.
