Highway 280 Pawn Shop Murders, Chelsea, Alabama

Dirty Deeds Podcast | Double Murder at the Pawn Shop, Chelsea, AL | The Dark Side of Real Estate Today's episode takes us to a pawn shop on Hwy 280 on July 25, 1996. The city is technically Westover. But if you're from the area, it's Chelsea? Birmingham? Etc. Between Talladega and Bham. Main Characters: Marcus Presley - 16 YO Bham native LaSamuel Gamble - 18 YO cousin of Marcus John Burleson - Owner of Johns Pawn Shop & Victim Janice Littleton - Employee at Pawn Shop & Victim Double Murder at 280 Pawn Shop in Chelsea, Alabama Marcus Presley 16 YO at the time of this crime and a Birmingham native was considered a juvenile runaway therefore a lot of info that I wanted to know was not allowed to be documented due to him being a minor. I want to know WHY he did this. Marcus, where is your mama?!?!? But I did find out that Gamble grew up in extreme poverty and violence and had lived in over 40 homes by the age of 18, when crime happened. At the time of the main crime we will discuss in today’s episode, Marcus Presley had already been involved in at least five other crimes! (armed robberies) Presley murdered four people and wounded three others in a spree of robberies and murders in 1996 alone! In a timespan of 3 months! For the Pawn Shop Crime, he had an accomplice LaSamuel Gamble and a getaway driver but overall the driver is basically irrelevant to our story. Gamble and Presley ‘shopped’ the store for 15 min eventually taking $2300 cash, 33 firearms! (You need different guns, not just ammo) Jewelry, and shot both John Burleson and Janice Littleton execution style with a 380 that jammed. Mine jams! John Burleson was 42 at the time of his death and was the owner of John's Pawn Shop. Died instantly. Janice Littleton was his store manager. Was alive when the ambulance arrived. All caught on camera. While Presley was the one who pulled the trigger, prosecutors described Gamble as the one "controlling the situation". They were captured in Virginia after a 15 day, multi state manhunt. They took a bus to Virginia as they both had family in the area. They were caught by police in Norfolk, Virginia. Presley and Gamble were extradited to Alabama. Gamble was 18 YO so charged as an adult. He was initially charged with death row but appealed a lot! Turns out his childhood was so bad, a judge knocked his sentence down from death penalty to life without parole. Initially Marcus Presley was sentenced to death as a teenager. In 2005 he was still alive on death row, but a new law came into effect saying that juveniles cannot be sentenced to death. and due to new law his death penalty sentence was automatically overturned. Even though he was no longer considered a juvenile but was at the time of crime. So in 2005 he was re-sentenced to life without parole. But in 2012, they redid the law AGAIN! (I think too many people hit the ‘life w/o parole thing? Jail crowding? Idk) So in 2012, this new law came out and was revised to basically say they can be charged with a life sentence with the possibility of parole. At this point in 2012, Presley had been incarcerated for a total of 27 years. ON FRIDAY THE 13th!!! The final judge said all the incarceration had not sparked any good changes in him and no positive changes had happened. They believed he didn’t “deserve" a chance at parole. As of September 13, 2024, FRIDAY THE 13th! Marcus Presley was resentenced (for the third time) to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the third time. This resentencing was necessary due to the U.S. Supreme Court rulings that found mandatory life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional, though the judge ultimately chose to maintain the original penalty. NOW both Gamble and Presley have a final sentence of life without parole due to their charges of capital murder. I frequent the old pawn shop building haha I saw the security tape freeze frame, it gave meFor more information on this podcast, please visit www.dirtydeedspodcast.comProduced by Phillip J. Pritchard, Video Visions Media Marketing www.videovisionsmm.com and www.yourpodcastnow.com