Tuscaloosa Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for 2023 Murder

Reginal Peoples has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2023 murder of Rufus Tyrone Carter IV.

Circuit Court Judge Daniel F. Pruet handed down the sentence Tuesday, following a jury's April verdict convicting Peoples of murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and reckless endangerment.

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As the Thread has previously reported, Peoples shot and killed Carter, 37, on March 30, 2023, following a confrontation at Peoples' home on Queen City Avenue. Carter was shot multiple times before crashing his vehicle nearby; he was transported to DCH Regional Medical Center, where he later died.

Peoples turned himself in to the Tuscaloosa Police Department and was charged with murder shortly after.

Assistant District Attorney Ashley Ross prosecuted the case on behalf of the state. Tuscaloosa County Public Defender Joseph P. Van Heest represented Peoples.

He was convicted in an April jury trial.

Court records show Peoples also pleaded guilty Tuesday to a separate set of drug charges, including trafficking and unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, stemming from a September 2023 arrest that came months after he was released on bond for the murder charge.

Those sentences will run concurrently with his murder sentence.

For more exclusive coverage of crime and courts in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.