Biography
Ervin Edwards was prosecuted after Mobile police officer Henry Booth was killed during an August 14, 1979 struggle over Booth’s revolver. Booth had tried to arrest Edwards on an outstanding misdemeanor warrant but did not have the warrant with him. Edwards was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. The Alabama Supreme Court later ruled that the evidence could not sustain capital murder but supported first-degree manslaughter. On December 12, 1983, the trial court entered a manslaughter judgment and imposed ten years, crediting Edwards with four years, three months, and twenty-seven days already spent in jail. The available record does not establish his eventual release date.
Arrest distinguished from the fatal encounter
The appellate record dates the struggle with Officer Booth to August 14, 1979, but separately records Edwards surrendering the next morning, August 15. Officer Pickett described Edwards being handcuffed and taken to the police station. The arrest field is corrected to that surrender, not the preceding attempted arrest. The reproduced September 28, 1981 death-sentence order directs immediate transport to Holman; it is an order, not proof of the actual admission day.
The June 1, 1984 opinion confirms the December 12, 1983 ten-year manslaughter sentence and credit of four years, three months and twenty-seven days already in jail. That credited duration is preserved in the sentence description, not treated as the complete imprisonment period. The prior approximate 51-month/1,553-day counter omitted part of the credit and falsely suggested a total; it is cleared. Neither reversal of the capital conviction nor this credit establishes eventual discharge. Exact prison admission, release and a reliably identified photograph remain unresolved.
Sources: Edwards v. State, 452 So.2d 487, witness testimony and Appendix A; Ex parte Edwards, 452 So.2d 508, June 1, 1984. The latter was consulted through indexed judgment text. Modern Louisiana and Mississippi namesakes are not this defendant.
