Alleged Cop Killer Seeks Transfer From Tuscaloosa Jail After 5 Years Without Bond or Trial

Attorneys for the man accused of murdering a Tuscaloosa Police officer have asked a judge to transfer him out of the county jail here, where he has been held for almost five years without bond or a trial.

Luther Bernard Watkins, Jr. earned local infamy when he allegedly shot and killed TPD Investigator Dornell Cousette in a September 2019 gunfight in west Tuscaloosa. The wounded Watkins was found shortly after the shootout and charged with capital murder. 

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Capital murder suspects are held without bond unless a judge chooses to grant it, which means they are not allowed to post bail and leave the county jail to be free until their trial. The issue is a balancing act between the suspect's constitutional right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty and the upkeep of public safety.

Thanks to several factors, Watkins has remained in the Tuscaloosa County Jail since September 17th, 2019, and has not been to trial.

From the jump, everything moves slowly as the county district attorney's office grapples with a neverending backlog of a few thousand felony cases to prosecute, and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic certainly didn't speed things along. One of Watkin's longtime defense attorneys, Jim Standridge, withdrew from the case when he retired last summer. Another defense attorney, Stuart Albea, withdrew as council in April of this year over the deterioration of his relationship with Watkins.

Now as he approaches his fifth anniversary in jail, attorneys for the murder suspect have asked to be transferred to a different holding facility until his day in court finally arrives.

A new attorney for Watkins, Gary Blume, and one of his long-time representatives Laura Segers Fikes filed two new motions in his case this week. One asks Circuit Judge Brad Almond to allow their client to stay in a different facility and another seeks to give a defense psychologist private access to Watkins.

Investigator Cousette was a longtime law enforcement officer and the attorneys say because he was known by many of the detention officers who work at the jail, it's not right for Watkins to continue to stay there.

It's not mentioned in the new motion, but Cousette's brother Juan Hall, was a detention officer at the jail, but Hall was killed in an off-duty shootout with a Birmingham firefighter last year. 

"With the passage of time, it has become increasingly difficult for the Defendant to be housed in the Tuscaloosa County Jail, operated by TCSO employees," the defense wrote in a motion. "The deterioration of the Defendant’s state of mind has been noted by various members of the defense team, including the defense psychologist."

On that note, the defense also asked Almond to grant their neuropsychologist private access to evaluate Watkins. The attorneys say their doctor has not been allowed into the Jail with the computer equipment he needs to work, and they ask that Watkins be allowed to meet with the psychologist off-site, unmonitored by jail staff, and with full use of his hands.

DA Hays Webb said he has not personally reviewed the new motions from Watkins' team, but said he expects Cousette's trial will be held between late fall and early spring.