Attorney General Steve Marshall Announces Court of Criminal Appeals Upholds Conviction of the Reckless Murder of a 4-Year-Old in Macon County

For Immediate Release:
August 20, 2026

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(Montgomery, Ala) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the reckless murder conviction, and discharging a firearm into an occupied building conviction of Joshua Ellis Washington, 23, of Macon County. Washington was convicted for the 2021 murder of a child in the Macon County Circuit Court on October 29, 2025.

The evidence at trial showed that on the night of February 13, 2021, Washington went to the apartment where the victim, four-year-old Davion Tarver, was spending the day with his godmother. Washington fired more than twenty-four rounds at the apartments and struck Tarver in the head while he was in his godmother’s bedroom watching cartoons. Washington was arrested the following day.

Macon County District Attorney Mike Segrest successfully prosecuted this case and obtained guilty verdicts. Washington was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment for his reckless murder conviction and 10 years’ imprisonment for his discharging a firearm into an occupied building conviction. Washington 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 Washington’s convictions. The Court did so in a decision issued Friday, August 14, 2026. 

Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorney General Stephen Daniel Bockman for his successful work on this case and thanks District Attorney Mike Segrest and his staff for their valuable assistance in obtaining the convictions.

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