Attorney General asks for execution date
JACKSON – A Death Row inmate has lost what may be his last chance to have the highest court hear his case. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from 38-year old Frederick Bell on his 1993 murder conviction. Bell was convicted for killing store clerk, Bert Bell, no relation, during an armed robbery at a Grenada convenience store in 1991.
Bell has always maintained his innocence.
According to court records, on May 6, 1991, Bell went to the Sparks Stop-N-Shop with Anthony Joe Doss, Robert Kennedy James and Frank Coffey. Bell purchased beer and potato chips from the clerk, Robert C. “Bert” Bell.
Frederick Bell, Doss, James and Coffey sat a nearby picnic table and Bell said he was planning to go to Memphis and needed money. Bell said he was going to rob the store and showed the three men a .22 caliber pistol.
Doss also had a gun, but it was inoperable.
Refusing to take part in the robbery, James and Coffey left the store premises.
A few minutes later, James and Coffey heard “hollering accompanied by gunshots,” and Bell and Doss ran and caught up with them. They showed James and Coffey the items they had taken from the store, including a money bag, a .38 caliber pistol and a box of bullets.
Court documents said Bell threatened to kill James because he didn’t want any witnesses, but Doss and Coffey stopped him from doing so.
Later that day, Bernard Gladney drove Bell, Doss and Coffey to Memphis, and once again, Bell said he wanted to kill James to prevent him from telling anyone about the murder.
Bell was later arrested in Memphis for another crime and two guns were found in the house where he was arrested.
A third gun was found in Gladney’s vehicle.
During his trial, Bell maintained that he was in Memphis the day of the murder, but there were no witnesses to corroborate his alibi. James’ sister and Coffey’s girlfriend, however, both testified they saw Bell with Coffey, Doss and James the day of the murder.
The store owner, James Shelby Sparks, testified that a .38 caliber pistol, a box of shells and a money bag were taken from his store during the robbery, and an autopsy report revealed that the store clerk had been shot several times, with a .38 caliber and a smaller gun, likely a .22 caliber, which Bell showed the three men the day of the murder.
At his trial in 1993, a jury found Bell guilty of murder and sentenced him to death.
Doss was also found guilty at a separate trial and sentenced to death.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court has denied Bell’s appeal, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has already asked for an execution date of Dec. 29 for Bell.
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