In June of 2014, the life of 59-year-old Raymond Earl Brooks, a male resident of Berlin in Cullman County, Alabama, was cut short in an act of vigilante justice. The events leading to his death began to unfold years prior, rooted in a dark history of sexual abuse. Brooks was a registered sex offender, having pleaded guilty in 2002 to the sexual abuse of an 8-year-old girl. This young girl was the daughter of Jay Maynor, the man who would ultimately be responsible for Brooks's death.
Brooks had served 27 months of a five-year sentence for his crime.
On a day in June 2014, Jay Maynor, then 43, took matters into his own hands. The tragic day began with an argument between Maynor and his now 24-year-old daughter. Following the disagreement, an agitated Maynor got on his motorcycle and drove to the Berlin Quick Stop. There, he opened fire, attempting to shoot a man who was dating his stepdaughter; fortunately, no one was injured in this initial outburst. From the convenience store, Maynor proceeded directly to Raymond Earl Brooks's home. He found Brooks in his front yard and shot him twice, ending his life.
Law enforcement quickly identified Jay Maynor as the suspect, and he was arrested shortly after the shootings. He faced a string of serious charges, including one count of murder for the death of Brooks, one count of attempted murder for the incident at the convenience store, and one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling. Maynor remained in custody at the Cullman County Detention Center from the time of his arrest until his plea.
In November 2016, Jay Maynor pleaded guilty to the charges of murder and attempted murder in the Cullman County Circuit Court. He accepted a plea deal to spare his daughter the trauma of having to testify in court about the abuse she had endured years earlier. As a result of his guilty plea, Maynor was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of Raymond Earl Brooks and a concurrent 20-year sentence for the attempted murder charge. The court gave him credit for the time he had already served since his arrest in 2014.
