A Jefferson County jury today found a 17-year-old Bessemer boy not guilty of murder in the January 2016 shooting death of Hoover resident Mike Gilotti in front of Gilotti’s Lake Cyrus home.
The jury, however, did find Charleston Wells guilty of breaking and entering numerous vehicles. His sentencing date for those convictions has not yet been set, defense attorney Charles Salvagio said.
Salvagio said defense attorneys conceded in their opening statements that Wells was guilty of breaking into vehicles but maintained that other people who were with Wells were to blame for Gilotti’s death.
“I feel like justice was served,” Salvagio said. “I think that everybody who evaluated the evidence understands that Ahmad Johnson and Darrian Bryant are the ones responsible for Mr. Gilotti’s death … Ahmad Johnson had the murder weapon. His prints were all over it.”
Johnson, an 18-year-old from Birmingham, and Bryant, a 17-year-old from Bessemer, are two of three others charged with Gilotti’s murder. The third is 20-year-old De’Ron Keith Lucas of McCalla. Their trials have not yet taken place.
Salvagio said the prosecutors in Wells’ case did a really good job of taking what he thought was a really weak case for murder and making it strong. But their arguments were contrary to the forensic evidence, he said.
Wells’ testimony of what happened also likely made a difference in the verdict, Salvagio said.
The jury deliberated several days before rendering its verdict today.
“Any time a jury takes that long, they’re trying to get it right,” Salvagio said. “There were close to 350 pieces of evidence in the case. They should have taken a long time.”
Efforts to reach prosecutors were unsuccessful. Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector said police were "obviously stunned and disappointed in the verdict," but he declined to comment further.
Wells remains in custody, pending his sentencing hearing. He was in the Jefferson County Jail in Bessemer today but likely will be transferred to the juvenile floor of the county jail in Birmingham, Salvagio said.
Gilotti, a 33-year-old father of two small boys, was shot to death outside his home when he was on his way to work out in the early morning hours of Jan. 5, 2016. Police have said he spotted a group of car burglars, who turned on him and then killed him. He died in front of his house.
This article was updated at 9:05 p.m. with a comment from Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector.