Windell Joe Campbell

A Cullman man charged with murder in a Phelan shooting is set to go to court this week in a stand your ground hearing to defend the killing.

Windell Joe Campbell, 60, has been out on $100,000 bond since the October 2016 shooting that left 44-year-old Edwin Lee Wood dead at a home on County Road 625. On Thursday, Campbell’s case is set for an immunity hearing where his attorneys, Johnny Berry and Brandon Little, will argue their client was defending himself under the state’s stand you ground law.

Circuit Judge Martha Williams will preside over the hearing.

Campbell wasn’t immediately charged with murder after the shooting but was taken into custody along with another person for questioning as Cullman County Sheriff’s Office investigated.

Authorities haven’t publicly stated what evidence they uncovered that provided probable cause to charge Campbell. However, Sheriff Matt Gentry said in 2016 that the incident was a “direct result of how drugs and alcohol can result in an individual’s senseless death.”

Campbell was additionally charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, possession of prescription medicine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Court records show prosecutors plan to show Campbell intended to shoot and kill Wood by introducing character evidence against him.

Alabama’s “stand your ground” law provides a number of conditions under which the use of deadly physical force is legally justifiable, including to defend self or another, if that person believes the other party is “using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force.”

The statute makes an exception in cases in which the “person against whom the defensive force is used has the right to be in or is a lawful resident of the dwelling, residence, or vehicle, such as an owner or lessee, and there is not an injunction for protection from domestic violence or a written pretrial supervision order of no contact against that person…”

Critics argue the law invites liberal interpretation and has been misused by defendants to whom it should not apply. Opponents also argue it gives defense counsel “two bites at the apple” in that prosecutors have to lay out all its evidence and trial strategy against the defendant which defense attorneys can then better prepare to attack at trial.

Supporters maintain that the statute affirms a law-abiding citizen’s right not to retreat in the face of an imminent unlawful threat.

Campbell’s case is also set for a jury trial Jan. 29 with Williams presiding.