Gerald Wayne Lawley

Gerald Wayne Lawley, a former Birmingham firefighter, was charged with and pleaded guilty to the 1983 murder of Malcolm McRae, a businessman who owned the Signature House in Five Points South area of Birmingham. Lawley first claimed that he had accidentally shot McRae while aiming at a tossed wine bottle, but no such bottle was recovered from the scene.

Gerald Wayne Lawley pleaded guilty to the charge of murder on April 9, 1984, and was sentenced by the Circuit Court of Shelby County to 25 years in the penitentiary. He subsequently filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on September 30, 1985, and a petition for writ of error coram nobis on October 24, 1985, in which he claimed that his trial counsel was ineffective. The State filed an answer on December 6, 1985, and the trial court held a hearing on February 6, 1986, and rendered a judgment in favor of the State. Lawley appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals; that court affirmed and then denied Lawley's application for rehearing. After reviewing the record and the respective briefs of the parties, the Supreme Court of the State of Alabama affirmed the lower court's decision.

• "Homewood man held in art dealer's death." (April 30, 1983) Associated Press/Gadsden Times
• Troncale, Terri Callaway (July 29, 1983) "Lawley said he shot McRae by accident, detective testifies" The Birmingham News, via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
• 512 So. 2d 1370 (1987)