The State of Alabama handed down a death sentence to Dontae Callen for a triple homicide.
According to court records, Dontae Callen would enter a house and kill his cousins Quortes Kelly, 33, and Aaliyah Budgess, 12, as well as Bernice Kelly, 59.
Dontae Callen would set the house on fire after the murders.
Dontae Callen would be detained, found guilty, and given the death penalty. Holman Death Row is where Dontae Callen is detained.
A Birmingham man who was found guilty of killing three relatives had his capital murder conviction affirmed by an Alabama appeals court.
Dontae Callen, 24, challenged the conviction in a case that was heard by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday.
Callen was found guilty of the murders of his two cousins, Quortes Kelly, 33, and Aaliyah Budgess, 12, as well as his 59-year-old aunt Bernice Kelly. In 2010, the three were discovered in a smoldering home with stab wounds.
Callen’s appeal, which argued that he ought to have been tried as a young offender, was denied by the court. Callen was 18 years old when the killings occurred.
The death sentence and conviction for Callen were upheld by the court. However, they assert that in order to justify the death penalty, a judge must modify the sentencing order.