Attorney General Steve Marshall Announces Court of Criminal Appeals Upholds Murder and First-Degree Robbery Convictions in Mobile County

For Immediate Release:
August 21, 2026

For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
William Califf (334) 604-3230

(Montgomery, Ala) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the murder and first-degree robbery convictions of Patrick Vashun Lewis, 26, of Mobile. Lewis was convicted in the Mobile County Circuit Court on February 20, 2025.

The evidence at trial showed that on the afternoon of September 18, 2021, the victim, Bryan Maynard, Jr., was robbed by Lewis and an accomplice in the parking lot of Bel Air Mall in Mobile. The victim, Maynard, and a friend had traveled from North Carolina to sell a Cartier watch to Nickolaus Hawkins whom he had met on social media. After confirming the value of the watch at a local jewelry store, the sale was completed and the victim and his friend returned to their vehicle at which point they were robbed at gunpoint by Lewis and Hawkins. The victim was shot and killed during a struggle for the gun. Nickolaus Hawkins testified against Lewis at trial. The plan was for Lewis to keep the money from the robbery and Hawkins would resell the watch and keep the proceeds.

Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood successfully prosecuted this case and obtained guilty verdicts. Lewis was sentenced to life imprisonment for his murder conviction and thirty years’ imprisonment for his first-degree robbery conviction. Lewis sought to have his convictions reversed on appeal.

The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled the case during the appeals process, arguing for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm Lewis’s convictions. The Court did so in a decision issued Friday, August 14, 2026.

Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General John E. Owen for his successful work on this case and thanks District Attorney Keith Blackwood and his staff for their valuable assistance in obtaining the murder and first-degree robbery convictions.

-30-

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.