Parole hearing set for man convicted in 1993 Marshall County murder

Steven Daniel Miner pleaded guilty to murder for Edward Lee Williams’s death during a burglary in Marshall County. Miner was trying to take guns, CDs, money and ammunition from Williams’ house, documents say.

According to the Alabama Bureau of Pardons & Paroles website, Miner has a parole hearing date scheduled for October 2.

Attorney General Steve Marshall’s Office said that before the shooting, Lee Williams, Edward Williams’s son, had asked Casey McWhorter and Miner to murder his father. On Feb. 18, 1993, McWhorter and Miner were dropped off near Edward Williams’ house and the pair went into the house.

After going through the house, McWhorter and Miner waited for Edward Williams to get home. When he got home, Marshall said Edward Williams saw Miner and took his rifle away from him. McWhorter then came out and shot Edward Williams a total of 11 times.

“Examination of his body later found that bullets struck several of his internal organs, including his liver, kidney, heart, and brain. Additionally, his aorta and pulmonary artery were pierced, causing half a gallon of blood to accumulate in his chest cavity,” the Attorney General’s Office wrote.

In the May 1994 term, a Grand Jury indicted Miner on three capital murder charges:

• Count 1: First-degree murder during robbery
• Count 2: First-degree murder during robbery
• Count 3: First-degree murder during burglary

On June 21, 1994, Miner applied for youthful offender status since he was 16 at the time of the murder. That request was denied, court records show.

In July 1994, a guilty plea was filed, saying that the state amended Miner’s indictment by striking all counts but count three, the murder during burglary charge. In the agreement, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of murder for that count.

Miner was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, and on July 25, 1994, Miner was booked into the Childersburg Correctional Based Facility.

Then, on February 23, 2020, the Alabama Department of Corrections said Miner escaped from the Childersburg Work Release Center around 9:30 p.m. ADOC said he was not found in his bed during a count of inmates at the facility.

Morgan County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mike Swafford told News 19 the U.S. Marshals Office followed a tip that Miner was inside a home on Pitts Road in the Eva area in Morgan County.

When authorities arrived, they saw Miner at the house.

MCSO said the agencies tried to make contact with Miner when someone inside the house walked out of the house and surrendered to law enforcement. The sheriff’s office said Miner indicated that he was alone and was not going to come out. He also expressed that he had an explosive device.

ALEA’s Bomb Squad and MCSO’s SWAT team joined the agencies already on the scene.

A Morgan County judge issued a search warrant for the home and authorities deployed tear gas. After several rounds of gas, MCSO says that Miner came out of the home and was taken into custody.

Following his escape, Miner was taken to the Bibb County Correctional Facility to continue his lifetime sentence.

Because of the brutality of the murder, McWhorter was given the death penalty and was executed on November 16, 2023, the AG’s office said.