Man Charged in Crumby Murder Indicted
It has taken more than a year, but the 24-year-old man charged with the Capital Murder of Huntsville and former Tuscaloosa Police Officer Garrett Crumby and the wounding of another HPD officer has been indicted. A Madison County Grand Jury returned the indictment Tuesday.
Juan Laws has been in jail since his arrest last March after he shot the officers who were responding to a domestic disturbance call. According to earlier hearing evidence, an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency investigation revealed that body camera footage showed the two officers were shot at in an ambush. The investigators identified Laws as the man who was dressed in full body armor when Crumby and the other officer entered an apartment when they heard a woman screaming. The defendant's girlfriend Arionne Douglas had been shot in the leg.
A medical examiner report presented in the earlier hearing identified 10 wounds on Crumby, though it was not clear how many were exit or entry wounds or shrapnel.
Investigators said Laws fired more than 20 rounds.
Crumby was born in Starkville, Mississippi, on Aug. 4, 1986, but was raised in Tuscaloosa. He was a 2004 graduate of Hillcrest High School. He served the Tuscaloosa Police Department for eight years as a patrol and field training officer.
Law’s defense attorney, Bruce Gardner, has asked the court for a mental evaluation of his client. He had also requested the court to allow him to be released from Laws' defense. That request was denied.
After a large funeral in Huntsville, Officer Crumby was transported in a funeral procession escorted by dozens of law enforcement vehicles to Tuscaloosa where he was laid to rest at Tuscaloosa Memorial Park with full honors
No trial date has been set for Laws.
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