Further details have been made public following the indictment and arrest last week of a Marion man on two counts of capital murder in Hale County.
Joshua Sanders, 44, of Marion, was arrested Jan. 10 on the charges. The indictment charges that Sanders “did intentionally cause the death of” Kendric Wright of Marion. Sanders is charged with two counts of capital murder: one count of capital murder by shooting from or within a vehicle, and one count of capital murder where the victim was in a vehicle.
As of last week, Sanders’ attorney, Wakisha Hazzard, has filed motions seeking to discover the state’s evidence against his client and any deals that may exist with the prosecution. Hazzard also filed a motion that all the proceedings in Sanders’ case be fully recorded, in light of the fact that it is a capital murder case.
Sanders was one of the individuals hospitalized in March of 2021 after two cars left Marion on Highway 14 and ended up in Hale County, exchanging gunfire the whole way. Two victims were reported to have been shot in the neck in that incident. That shootout was identified as an act of revenge for the death of Kendrell Foster in a convenience store shooting in January of that year. Foster’s shooter, Ja’Quan Brooks, died Jan. 12, 2024 in a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 69 north of Greensboro.
Kendric Wright, the man identified as Sanders’ victim in the indictment, died June 21 of 2023 at the age of 19.
Lawrence Johnson, one of a group of three men authorities described as “hitmen,” faces charges related to the assassination style shooting of 71-year-old Hugh Lee Sanders, who was gunned down in the parking lot of Siloam Baptist Church on April 4, 2021. Authorities believe Sanders was targeted because he was a relative of some of the younger parties to the ongoing feud.
Johnson, 38, is from Hoover. He faces charges including two counts of attempted murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. He was set for the settlement docket before Circuit Judge Collins Pettaway on Thursday, Jan. 25 in Perry County last week. Court records indicate that no settlement was entered. Pettaway issued an order that day setting Johnson for a jury trial on Nov. 4, 2024.
Wright’s co-defendants, Gerald Lee Hogue and Christopher Roberts, both of Missouri, are set for trial in February and May.
