A Houston County judge ordered a mental evaluation on Wednesday for a 48-year-old man charged with killing another man during an alleged drug-related robbery.
About six months after his arrest by Dothan police, Gregory Lawton had a hearing in front of Circuit Court Judge Butch Binford.
Dothan police investigators arrested Lawton in August 2011 and charged him with shooting 29-year-old Milton Jones to death during a robbery of narcotics.
Lawton also faces a second capital murder charge, which District Attorney Doug Valeska has said is also for Jones’ death. He said the offense included a murder committed while the defendant is under a life imprisonment sentence. He said Lawton was on parole for a life sentence at the time of Milton’s murder. Lawton remains held at the Houston County Jail without bail.
Binford ordered Lawton to receive an evaluation by Dr. Doug McKeown, a Dothan psychologist.
“We would ask for an independent evaluation of Mr. Lawton,” said attorney Shawn McGhee, who represented Lawton in court. Attorney Matt Lamere also represented Lawton in court.
Binford delayed a ruling on an independent evaluation until the first one had been completed.
If convicted of the capital murder charges, Lawton faces a life in prison sentence without the opportunity of parole or the death penalty.
Binford denied a request by the defense for copies of the criminal history for any potential witnesses in the cases filed against their client. McGhee said they don’t have access to that kind of information even with a hired investigator.
Valeska argued against the request, saying the defense could use alacourt.com, an electronic court records website, to check for a criminal history.
According to Brian Corbett, with the state Department of Corrections, Lawton was released in June 2011 , after being paroled on a life sentence for armed robbery. Corbett said Lawton had served 26 years in prison when he was released.
Valeska has said Lawton had at least five prior felony convictions, which included first-degree robbery, three counts of burglary and receiving stolen property.
Records indicate police investigators charged Lawton with capital murder during a robbery, which included using a high-powered rifle to fatally shoot Jones.
Police found Jones slumped over on the floorboard of his car, which was left parked on Leila Drive in Ford Country. But police said the shooting happened in the yard of Lawton’s mother’s residence on LaGrand Drive. Police say after Jones suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, he was placed in his own vehicle and driven to Leila Drive.
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