Former Montgomery Police Officer Aaron Cody Smith was convicted of manslaughter after shooting and killing 58-year-old Gregory “Greg” Gunn, an unarmed man who was walking home through his own neighborhood in Montgomery, Alabama.
The shooting happened shortly after 3:00 a.m. on February 25, 2016. Gunn was walking home from a weekly card game and was near the house he shared with his mother when Smith stopped him.
According to Associated Press reporting, Smith stopped Gunn after deciding he looked suspicious. The defense later said Smith believed Gunn matched concerns about burglaries in the neighborhood. Prosecutors argued Gunn had done nothing wrong and should never have been turned into a target for a stop-and-frisk.
The encounter escalated after Smith began a pat-down. Smith claimed he felt something hard near Gunn’s waistband and that Gunn swatted his hand away before running. Smith chased Gunn, used a Taser, struck him with a baton, and eventually followed him onto or near a porch.
Smith claimed Gunn grabbed a painter’s pole and that he fired in self-defense because he feared Gunn was going to attack him. Prosecutors argued Gunn was never a deadly threat. AP reported that prosecutors told jurors Smith used a baton and Taser before shooting Gunn, and argued that “you can’t kill a man because he ran.”
Smith fired seven shots. Gunn was hit five times and killed near his home.
The shooting was not captured on body camera or dash camera video. AP reported that Smith did not activate his body camera or turn on his patrol car lights, which would have activated the dash camera.
Smith was charged with murder after an Alabama Bureau of Investigation inquiry. The case drew protests and heavy public attention in Montgomery. Smith’s defense successfully sought to move the trial out of Montgomery, and the case was tried in Dale County.
At trial, the prosecution portrayed Smith as the aggressor and argued that Gunn, even if he ran, did not present a threat that justified deadly force. The defense argued Smith was a young officer alone at night, that less-lethal force had failed, and that Smith believed Gunn had armed himself with a pole.
The case also included disputes over Smith’s changing accounts of the encounter. In a later Alabama Supreme Court opinion, the court noted that the state argued Smith’s descriptions of the encounter changed over time. The same opinion also described later judicial concerns over how the case had been argued on appeal.
On November 22, 2019, a jury found Smith guilty of manslaughter rather than murder. The ACLU of Alabama said the verdict showed jurors rejected Smith’s claim that the shooting was self-defense.
On January 29, 2020, Smith was sentenced to 14 years in prison. AP reported that the sentence followed emotional statements from Gunn’s family, who described how Gunn had helped care for his family after their father died.
Smith resigned from the Montgomery Police Department after the conviction. He was later released on an appeal bond while challenging the conviction, then began serving his prison sentence in May 2022.
The case changed again in 2024. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall took over the prosecution from Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey. On February 21, 2024, Marshall announced that his office had reached a plea agreement with Smith. Smith pleaded to manslaughter and was released on time served.
AP reported that the judge agreed to a split 18-month sentence followed by 90 days of probation, which effectively matched the time Smith had already served. Smith had originally been sentenced to 14 years.
The early release angered Gunn’s family and Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey. WAKA reported that Bailey said he was disappointed Smith was being released early and said the original jury had rejected Smith’s self-defense claims.
Gunn’s family also pursued a civil lawsuit. WAKA reported that the City of Montgomery reached a confidential settlement with the Gunn family in 2020, without an admission of liability.
The case remains one of Alabama’s most significant police-shooting prosecutions. Greg Gunn was walking home when an officer stopped him, chased him, used a Taser and baton, and then shot him five times. Aaron Cody Smith was convicted and originally sentenced to 14 years, but after years of appeals and a 2024 plea deal, he was released after serving far less time.
