JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. (WDNews) — The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the felony murder conviction of a Jefferson County man sentenced to 35 years in prison.
According to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Frank Jamall Steele, 26, was convicted Aug. 9, 2024, in Jefferson County Circuit Court in connection with the 2019 death of Benjamin Gonzalez.
Evidence presented at trial showed Steele went to an apartment where Gonzalez was staying during the early morning hours of Oct. 13, 2019. Prosecutors said Steele knew a woman living at the apartment through their work at McDonald’s.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Steele woke Gonzalez and the woman and asked to borrow a cellphone to make a call. Steele then shot Gonzalez twice before fleeing.
Steele was arrested at work the following day. Investigators said he had an injury to his hand consistent with climbing over a barbed-wire fence while fleeing the scene.
Ballistics evidence also linked the firearm used in the killing to Steele’s residence, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr prosecuted the case, which resulted in Steele being found guilty of felony murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Steele appealed the conviction, seeking to have it reversed.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division argued that the conviction should stand. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction in a decision issued Friday, Aug. 14.
Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General John J. Davis for handling the appeal and thanked Carr and his staff for their work in the case.
