Woman survives attempted murder by ex-husband only to be killed by her son

WETUMPKA — A Millbrook man was sentenced in Elmore County Circuit Court on Wednesday to 30 years in prison for the killing of his mother.

Sedric Clayton, 29, pleaded guilty in March to the August 2014 shooting death of Anita Washington, 49, courthouse records show. Circuit Judge Sibley Reynolds handed down the sentence. Clayton has been in the Elmore County Jail since his 2014 arrest shortly after Washington’s body was found in a wooded area in the Sandtown neighborhood in Millbrook. He has expressed no remorse over the act, prosecutors told Reynolds.

A handcuffed Clayton appeared before the bench wearing gray- and black-striped jail garb.

“We had a good relationship, we really didn’t have any debate between us,” Clayton told Reynolds, his voice barely above a whisper. He showed no apparent emotion. “We got along good. I hate that this happened back then. To her family I feel your loss. I feel the same way.”

Washington’s father, John Pressley, spoke briefly before sentence was meted out.

“The only thing I want to know, judge, is why he did this?” Pressley asked. “As good as she was to him.”

“Mr. Pressley, I don’t know if you will ever get a satisfactory answer to that question,” Reynolds said, then he spoke to Clayton’s demeanor in court. “I don’t know if he recognizes that he killed his mama.”

The question of why may never be answered. Prosecutors have never established a motive. Washington’s family reported her missing on Aug. 20, 2014. Her body was found two days later. Prosecutors believe, and were prepared to prove at trial, that Clayton shot his mother once in the head, inside their home.

The handgun that forensics proved was the murder weapon was found in a black bag on his bed, in his room in the home, said Kristi Peoples, the assistant district attorney handling the case.

“Anita Washington’s blood was all over the house,” Peoples told Reynolds. “Her blood was all over the mop bucket he used to try and clean up. Her blood was all over his truck.”

Robert Walker, Washington’s cousin, also spoke.

“The question we have judge is how much time does a person get for killing his mother?’ he asked. “How much time does a person get for leaving her body out for two days when temperatures were over 90 degrees …?”

The 30-year sentence was what the state recommended as part of the plea arrangement.

This was an especially disturbing case, District Attorney Randall Houston said. In 2008, Washington survived her attempted murder at the hands of her ex-husband Irilmoskomazzerella Washington, 50. He waited for her outside of Prattville Christian Academy when she went to pick up their son, and shot her five times. She has since recovered, but has a bullet lodged in the base of her skull.

Clayton is a son from a previous marriage, Houston said.

“To be the victim of domestic violence at the hands of two close family members,” Houston said. “To be shot in the head by her ex-husband and survive, only to die after being shot in the head by her son as she was inside their home. Tragic doesn’t begin to describe this case.”

Washington’s other son, now 15, is being raised by Pressley, Houston said.

Source:MontgomeryAdvertiser