The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the case of a Bibb County man who was convicted of murder in 2013 for the shooting death of his wife 14 years earlier.

Jody Byrd, who is serving a 99-year sentence for the 1999 shooting death of his wife, Desta Byrd, lost an appeal before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in December 2015. The Alabama Supreme Court in July declined to hear the case and he filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in October.

On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court denied Byrd’s petition for certiorari – or review.

Byrd had told investigators at the time of his wife’s death that he had found her lying next to the driveway at their Brierfield Estates home when he got home from work the night of Feb. 25, 1999. Desta Byrd died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Investigators did not charge Jody Byrd until 2011.   Some of Desta’s friends had formed a group to push for a new investigation of the case.

Jody-ByrdThe prosecution, led by Blount County District Attorney Pamela L. Casey, who was named special prosecutor in the case, argued the evidence showed it wasn’t suicide, that Jody Byrd was the only one who could have done it, and that Jody Byrd had given inconsistent statements about the exact time he came home that night.

By Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com