MONTGOMERY, Ala.—A Colorado man was convicted Thursday of killing his prominent parents in their Montgomery home on Thanksgiving four years ago after they decided to quit supporting him financially.
A circuit court jury found Winston Brent Springford Jr. guilty of capital murder Thursday afternoon. The verdict ended an abbreviated two-day trial that focused solely on prosecution evidence. That was because Springford pleaded guilty last month to capital murder and prosecutors agreed to a sentence of life in prison without parole rather than a death sentence. Despite the plea, state law still required a brief trial and jury verdict.
In the trial, Robin Springford Crouch testified her parents, Brent and Charlotte Springford, had generously supported her brother, but the killing occurred after her parents told him that they “were going to cut off his credit card.”
Her testimony was backed up when the son’s taped confession was played in court Thursday.
The Springfords, both 62, were killed on Thanksgiving night 2004 after returning to their Montgomery home from visiting their daughter in Birmingham. Their two-story home was located in the capital’s historic Garden District.
The Springfords operated the Pepsi Cola bottling plant in Luverne. Their son worked for an oil drilling company in Greeley, Colo., but his parents’ money allowed him to enjoy a higher standard of living.
Robin Crouch said the Springfords had been supporting their son, now 32, including paying for his home in Colorado, his two vehicles, and his credit card, plus providing a monthly allowance of $800 to $900. But the parents and the son had become “estranged,” and the parents had decided to scale back their support, she said.
Other testimony showed the Springfords’ son bought a bus ticket from Colorado to Montgomery and arrived in town the day before Thanksgiving. By that time, his parents were already in Birmingham. They returned Thursday evening. They were found the next day beaten with an ax handle and cut repeatedly with a knife.
The son pleaded guilty to capital murder Nov. 18, but did not give a motive. During that hearing, he said he had no doubt that he killed his parents, but did not recall details of what happened.
On Thursday, jurors heard a taped confession Springford gave after his arrest in 2004. It offered more details than he provided in the hearing last month.
Springford said he decided to travel to Montgomery after his father threatened to sell the house where he was living with his wife, Caroline, and her four adopted children.
Springford said he thought if he “surprised them,” then he could keep them from severing ties with him.
But Springford said that after his parents learned he had broken into their home, an argument ensued with his father. Springford said he decided to sacrifice himself so that his wife and her children could continue to live in the house.
He said he attacked his father first with an ax handle and knife.
“I thought, ‘This is insane, but you do it now or you’re going to have the house—the house is going to be sold, Caroline and the kids,'” he said.
