An Alabama inmate convicted of killing Billy Jack Gaither during a brutal hate crime over two decades ago has been murdered in prison. The incident happened just days after the 20th anniversary of Gaither’s death.
Steven Eric Mullins was found unresponsive with multiple stab wounds on February 26 at the St. Clair Correctional Facility. He was transported to an area hospital, where he died last week.
Mullins was serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for the kidnapping and murder of Gaither, a hate crime that shocked the state and nation.
The story that Mullins and his accomplice, Charles Butler, told investigators at the time that Billy Jack previously made a pass at Butler.
A week later, the men lured Gaither from a bar to a dock, stabbed and beat him to death with an ax handle. The two men then took Gaither to a creek and beat him again before putting him on kerosene-drenched tires.
Mullins confessed to the crime in video broadcast a year later by PBS Frontline.
“I was still beating him and when I gave out of energy and couldn’t do it anymore, um, the fire got to going and the tires started burning real well and I drug him into the flame and uh, we stood there for a few minutes and then we left,” Mullins told investigators.
Just a few days ago we posted Billy Jack's story on this blog. This news is shocking coming so close to our post.
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