BY MICHAELA YIELDING FOR THE OBSERVER
LEE COUNTY — Two men accused of murder in October 2023 are set to go to trial on Feb. 3 following a Jan. 15 plea hearing at which both pled not guilty.
Francis Harland Hamblin, 42, and Matthew James Dillon, 41, will face a criminal jury in the murder of Reggie Cornelius Stokes, 28.
According to authorities, Stokes was last seen alive by family on Sept. 22, 2023, and had been reported missing. The two co-defendants were charged with the murder on Oct. 11, 2023, following the discovery of Stokes’ remains in a wooded area of the 100 block of Bay Court by Opelika Police, assisted by a cadaver dog search team.
Following their arrest, the two men were held without bond at the Lee County Justice Center. Hamblin has remained in jail since his arrest. Lee County District Judge Steven Speakman granted a $50,000 reduction to Dillon’s previously set $150,000 bond on April 4, 2024, and he has been on monitored house arrest.
Throughout his incarceration, Dillon filed for a “fast and speedy trial” multiple times with both the Lee County Court and the Alabama Supreme Court. In a letter Dillon sent to the Lee County Circuit Court clerk, he claimed that after asking his attorney at the time, Scott Patrick, to file a motion for a speedy trial, Patrick resigned from representing Dillon instead of filing.
Dillon also filed an ethics complaint against the Lee County District Attorney’s Office to the Alabama Bar Association. District Attorney Jessica Ventiere responded by arguing that the complaint failed to assert any violation of the rules of professional conduct.
Circuit Judge Christopher J. Hughes set the criminal trial to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 3. Prosecutors of the case are Ventiere, Chief Assistant District Attorney Clay Thomas and Senior Trial Assistant District Attorney Cathey Berardi. Dillon is represented by attorney Arthur Vaughn II, and Hamblin’s attorney is Andrew Maddox.
