On the night of August 20th, 2016 a horrific incident happened that left two families in shambles. Many rumors have circulated throughout the community and through social media sites claiming either self defense or a senseless murder, nonetheless two families lives were drastically ripped apart that night.  One family lost their son, brother, and grandson, Braxton Edwards, to a gun shot wound in the chest by Darrion Wilkes. The other family, as well, lost someone dear to them: Terrance Ellison.. however, they did not lose him to death, they lost him to the court system for a crime he did not commit. Terrance (passenger seat) and Darrion (drivers seat) were on their way to Tuscaloosa, Alabama when they made a pit stop in Decatur, Al to meet up with Braxton at his home for unknown reasons. Braxton entered the back passenger seat of Darrion's car where the 3 of them were talking about unknown matters when Braxton quickly became agitated in the conversation and pulled a gun on the two. From various news outlets, and court documents, Darrion claimed self defense when he instinctually wrestled the gun from Braxton's hand and then fired it, hitting Braxton in the chest. Braxton fled from the car and into the house. Due to it being the evening hours, Darrion then thought he saw Cameron Edwards (Braxton's Brother) come from the Edwards front porch with a gun, and was then afraid of retaliation; Darrion continued to fire the gun towards the direction of the porch, injuring Cameron along the way. During this whole entire incident, Terrance Ellison never touched the gun. That night Braxton lost his life, and Terrance and Darrion were both charged with Capital Murder and 1st degree assault within 24 hours.

No one really knows what happened in that car, or what exactly Braxton did that made Darrion fear for his life and shoot Braxton in self defense. What is made known is that Terrance Ellison never touched the gun;  Darrion himself provided a written statement to detectives of this account. Terrance never touched that gun. He was just simply there, in the passenger seat of the car, when the night took a devastating turn for the worst. Now he is facing capital murder charges, and possibly the death penalty. The Morgan County DA's office is determined to charge Terrance Ellison to the fullest extent; they intend to take his life away for a crime that he did not commit, but a crime that he witnessed however did not report. It is public record that both Terrance and Darrion fled from the scene that night. However, they did not run because they did not care about the devastating events that occurred, they ran because of shock of what just happened and fear of the unknown. The fight or flight instincts had kicked in, and once Darrion defended himself, their instincts were to escape from the situation immediately. Terrance did not intend to cover up what happened by running away from the scene, he did not plan to completely run away from the situation itself, he just could not process the reality of what had happened, and he made an instinctual call to get to a location where he felt safe. 

The reason for this petition is to urge the Morgan County DA's office to drop the charges of Capital Murder against Terrance Ellison. Terrance is a loving son, brother, and Uncle to his family. He has a heart of gold, and was a leader amongst his friends. He has made many mistakes throughout this unfortunate event. Terrance did not have any intentions on harming Braxton that night; murder was no where near on his mind. He just simply wanted to talk with Braxton about unknown matters. Terrance did make the mistake of fleeing from the crime scene of a shooting victim. He did make the mistake of not calling the cops and reporting the incident. One thing he did not do was pull a gun. The Morgan County DA's office, however, does not see it that way; they believe that the only justice for this case is taking "an eye for an eye".

It is with this petition that Terrance's family hopes to save his life too. Bad things do happen, people do make horrible decisions, but that doesn't make them horrible people. Terrance is not one of those "bad people". As Braxton Edward's family deserves justice, Terrance Ellison does not deserve to have the rest of his life swept away from him just because he witnessed a crime that he did not report right away. With over 250 signatures Terrance may have a second chance at life outside of the prison system. 

For everyone who signs and shares this petition, it is with the biggest sincerity that the Ellison/Webster family gives you their utmost gratitude and appreciation for taking the time to help them with this urgent cause. 10,000 "thank you's" would never come close to the love the family will have if Terrance were ever able to be released.