Ala. man convicted of 1995 murders dies in prison

Published 9:29 am Thursday, September 23, 2010

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A 53-year-old man sentenced to life in prison in August for two murders in 1995 in Coosa County has died in prison.

The Gadsden Times reports that an Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman says Mickie Wayne Collins of Attalla died Saturday at Kilby Prison hospital.

Collins had cancer and was in a wheelchair in a Coosa County courtroom when he pleaded guilty in August to the slayings of two Gadsden men. He was one of three men who pleaded guilty in the case.

His nephew, 42-year-old L.C. Collins Jr., and 52-year-old Charles Richard Tooley also pleaded guilty. Each was sentenced to 25 years in prison on each charge.

The men were arrested almost 14 years after the deaths of 41-year-old Charles Thomas Amberson Jr. and 39-year-old Darrell Thomas Coleman.