On the afternoon of September 13, 1979, Alabama State Trooper David E. Temple pulled onto Highway 20 near Mooresville with a robber’s trail in front of him and backup still on the way. Temple was a 36-year-old white male. Earlier that day, a used-car lot in Decatur had been hit, and law enforcement across Morgan, Limestone, and Madison counties were alerted to watch for the men believed responsible.
Temple picked up the suspect vehicle and stayed with it for roughly two miles, closing the distance while waiting for help to arrive. When he finally pulled alongside the car to make the arrest, the driver leaned out and opened fire, striking him. The violence did not stop with that first burst. The gunman got out, walked to where Temple lay wounded on the roadway, and shot him several more times before fleeing. Investigators later identified the weapon used in Temple’s killing as a. 44-caliber handgun.
The escape turned into a running fight through the area toward Madison. During the chase, the same gunman confronted a Madison police officer and wounded him, but the officer managed to return fire and kill the attacker. In the end, the man who shot Temple did not live to face trial for the trooper’s death.
Court records from the robbery that sparked the manhunt describe two participants at the Decatur used-car lot: Edwin Ledbetter and an accomplice identified as Brashers. The pair went to the lot under the pretense of asking about a 280Z Datsun, returned a second time, and carried out the robbery at gunpoint—binding and gagging the manager, Robert Hogan, and taking cash. In that case, the courts noted that Brashers was later killed in a confrontation with law enforcement soon after the robbery, consistent with the fatal exchange that ended the pursuit following Temple’s shooting.
Ledbetter was arrested and prosecuted for the Decatur robbery. At trial he admitted being present and holding a gun during the holdup but argued he acted under coercion and threats from Brashers. A jury rejected the duress claim, convicted Ledbetter of robbery, and he received a life sentence; the conviction was upheld on appeal. The public record tied to the robbery shows prosecution and punishment for the underlying crime, while the lethal assault on Trooper Temple concluded at the roadside and in the final gunfire of the chase, with the shooter dead and no murder trial to follow.
