MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WDNews) — The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the conviction of a Macon County man sentenced to prison in connection with the 2021 shooting death of a 4-year-old boy.
Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the court affirmed the reckless murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied building convictions of Joshua Ellis Washington, 23.
Washington was convicted Oct. 29, 2025, in Macon County Circuit Court in the death of 4-year-old Davion Tarver.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, evidence presented at trial showed Washington went to an apartment on Feb. 13, 2021, where Tarver was spending the day with his godmother.
Prosecutors said Washington fired more than 24 rounds at the apartments. One of the bullets struck Tarver in the head while he was in his godmother’s bedroom watching cartoons.
Washington was arrested the following day.
Macon County District Attorney Mike Segrest prosecuted the case and obtained guilty verdicts against Washington.
Washington was sentenced to 30 years in prison for reckless murder and 10 years for discharging a firearm into an occupied building.
Washington appealed his convictions in an effort to have them overturned.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled the case during the appeals process and argued that Washington’s convictions should stand.
The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the convictions in a decision issued Friday, Aug. 14.
Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Stephen Daniel Bockman for his work handling the appeal. He also thanked Segrest and his staff for their work in obtaining the convictions.
