On the evening of May 12, 1985, in Montgomery, Alabama, Grover Jarrett, a 34-year-old man, was shot and killed. The incident unfolded at the Bellview Street residence of Louise Grice, where Jarrett was discovered in a back bedroom, having been fatally wounded while lying on a bed. The tranquility of that evening was shattered by an act of violence that would also claim the life of Louise Grice.
The perpetrator was identified as Robert James Grice, the estranged husband of Louise.
Armed with a shotgun, Grice went to his wife's home, where he first shot Jarrett. Immediately following, he pursued his wife into the front yard and killed her as well. One of Louise's daughters was present in the house at the time of the shootings and witnessed Grice holding the gun after hearing the first shot. She bravely attempted to intervene but was struck by Grice with the shotgun.
Following the murders, law enforcement was summoned to the scene, and they promptly located and arrested Robert James Grice. During the investigation, a sawed-off barrel of a 16-gauge shotgun was recovered from a room where Grice had been staying. After being read his rights, Grice admitted to the shootings of both Jarrett and his wife.
Robert James Grice was subsequently charged and convicted of the capital murders of both Grover Jarrett and Louise Grice. The trial proceedings revealed the crime to be one of passion. Ultimately, the jury recommended a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a sentence which the court imposed. An appeals court later upheld the two murder convictions in 1988.
