Albertville Police Department, Alabama
End of Watch: Wednesday, January 25, 1995
Age: 36
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: 32
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: January 25, 1995
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Sentenced to death
Detective Whitten was shot and killed when he answered a knock at his back door at approximately 2100 hours. The suspect in a case that Detective Whitten was investigating hired two hit-men to murder him so that the suspect would not face any jail time. Detective Whitten survived long enough to identify the murderers. All parties involved where charged with murder.
Two of the suspects were sentenced to death and the third was sentenced to 25 years in prison. One of the suspects had his sentence reduce to life in prison without parole in 2005 when the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitional to execute convicted murderers who committed their crimes as juveniles. The suspect sentenced to 25 years was denied parole in 2010. His next parole hearing in 2020 was also denied.
Detective Whitten was survived by his parents and brother.