By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@thecitizennews.com

Accused murderers Karl Bryan Hodge and Glen Simon Hamilton can thank the very police who arrested them for saving them from any possibility of the death penalty for the grisly burning death of Adolf A. Stubbs.

The Fayette County Sheriff's Department traveled to Jamaica several weeks ago to locate a third suspect in the murder case. The suspect, Paul “Pablo” Hylton, is currently in a Jamaican jail and will eventually travel here to stand trial for murder, said Maj. Bruce Jordan, director of investigations for the Sheriff's Department.

Jamaican authorities wouldn't allow Hylton to be extradited without assurances that he would not face the death penalty, said District Attorney Bill McBroom. So the arrest inadvertently forced prosecutors to drop the death penalty against Hodge and Hamilton.

Stubbs' body was found inside a burning Ford Explorer on Layden Avenue in north Fayette County March 31, 1999. The investigation revealed that Stubbs was in the Atlanta area for a drug deal, and he was last seen with one of the defendants transporting approximately 150 pounds of marijuana in the vehicle, according to law enforcement records.

McBroom said guidelines require him to try all three of the murder defendants on similar grounds, so he chose to drop the death penalty option in exchange for the shot at prosecuting Hylton.

“The Fayette County Sheriff's Department did what I never thought they could do: catch the third guy,” McBroom said.

Hylton, who is still in custody in a Jamaican jail, was arrested after four investigators from the Fayette County Sheriff's Office traveled there several weeks ago, Jordan said. Four officers went for safety reasons, since they knew they would not be allowed to carry weapons there, he added.

The investigators applied for the arrest through the U.S. State Department at the American Embassy in Jamaica, Jordan said. Hylton was later apprehended by U.S. marshals and the Jamaican police, he added.

The main object of the trip was to secure DNA samples from Stubbs' parents, Jordan said. Since Stubbs wasn't a U.S. citizen, the DNA evidence is crucial in helping prove that he was the murder victim, he added. His body was so badly damaged in the blaze that it was difficult to positively identify the deceased, according to law enforcement records.

But the investigators knew Hylton's address before they flew to Jamaica, thanks to help from natives who wanted to see Hylton brought to justice for the murder of Stubbs, who was also a Jamaican native, Jordan added.

The trip wasn't a working vacation, either, since the Jamaica the investigators saw in Kingston “isn't near what you see in the commercials,” Jordan said.

During the investigation, deputies staked out a residence in Clayton County where a 10-year-old child tried to dispose of some evidence that likely will be used in the trial, Jordan said. The child was instructed by an adult to dump a suitcase, containing marijuana and cash, in a wooded area behind the residence.

Authorities believe that evidence was used in the drug transaction prior to Stubbs' murder, Jordan said.

That stakeout led to the arrest of Clayton County resident Demarsha Cullins, whose name was listed on real estate that was used for some drug transactions, Jordan added.