A convicted killer in Alabama sentenced to death for the sextuple murders of his now-former girlfriend's family is dropping his appeals and wants to be executed.
Armed with a gun and ax, and high on methamphetamine, Derrick Dearman brutally murdered pregnant Chelsea Marie Reed, 22; Shannon Melissa Randall, 35; Robert Lee Brown, 26; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; and Joseph Adam Turner, 26; at a rural home outside Citronelle, Alabama, in 2016.
Dearman, now 36, was convicted of six counts of murder, including one count for the slaying of the unborn baby. He was sentenced to death in 2018.
At the time, Dearman appealed his conviction, but said he did it to appease his family.
"They said, 'Derrick just give us a few years in this appeal process,'" said Dearman, according to NBC News. "'We deserve that, it's our right as your family to fight for your life,' and I said, 'OK.' That was almost six years ago, and I feel like I've given them the fair chance."
Dearman was driven to kill when his then-girlfriend Laneta Lester moved in with her brother, Turner, because Dearman abused her, according to court records, AL.com reported.
He struck when everyone was sleeping. Dearman then kidnapped Lester and her 3-month-old family member and drove them to his dad's home about 20 miles away in Leakesville, Mississippi.
When Dearman let Lester and the infant go, they fled to the Citronelle police station for help.
Dearman turned himself in to Leakesville police when he sobered up and realized what he had done.
"I am guilty plain and simple, I turned myself in and I pled guilty," he said, NBC reported. "Once I got moved over to county and spent a week down there, sleeping every day, my mind coming back to me a little bit more, little bit more, little bit more, I was just in shock. I couldn't comprehend the magnitude of what had happened because those people were good people."
Dearman blamed meth and a drug addiction he struggled with since he was a teen for his deadly rampage.
"Drugs turned me into a very unpredictable, unstable and violent person," he said. "That's not who I am. The person that committed these crimes and the person who I truly am is two different people."
The convicted killer has made peace with his fate and wants to die by lethal injection.
"Am I doing this because I can't live with myself? No," Dearman told the outlet. "I made this decision for different reasons. One of those reasons is so that all parties involved, not just the victims and their families but my family as well, can kind of get some closure and begin healing and moving forward."
