Three decades on Death Row: Persistent appeals stall execution of Dothan killer

Three decades on Death Row: Persistent appeals stall execution of Dothan killer

DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) - Inside the sterile, high-security confines of Alabama’s Holman Correctional Facility, the passage of time is marked not by milestones, but by the slow, grinding machinery of a legal system that has kept Artez Hammonds in limbo for nearly three decades.

To the family of Marilyn Mitchell, Hammonds is the man who stole a promising young life. In May 1990, Mitchell, a 22-year-old newly graduated nurse, was found brutally stabbed and sexually assaulted inside her Dothan townhouse—just days after Hammonds had delivered furniture to her home.

It took years for forensic evidence to link Hammonds to the cold case, culminating in his capital murder conviction and death sentence in 1997.

Now 56, Hammonds remains on death row with no execution in sight, caught in a seemingly endless cycle of appeals. Hammonds recent bypassed professional legal counsel to act as his own attorney, filing a fresh Rule 32 petition seeking a new trial.

In his handwritten motions, he levels explosive allegations against the state, claiming systematic profiling, a compromised chain of custody for evidence, and constitutional failures during his original trial.

A judge dismissed the case but Hammonds appealed keeping his case—and him---alive.

His ongoing legal crusade has deeply frustrated local prosecutors and Mitchell’s surviving loved ones, who have watched decades slip away without final justice.

While Hammonds is among the death row inmates who selected nitrogen hypoxia as their preferred method of execution, the state has yet to set a date, paralyzed by his persistent, self-led legal challenges.

For those waiting on both sides of the prison walls, the final chapter of one of Dothan’s most notorious tragedies remains unwritten, frozen in the quiet stillness of Alabama’s death row.

Download the WTVY News4 app to get alerts and stories the moment they are published. Available for FREE in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store!

Copyright 2026 WTVY. All rights reserved.