Judge Mitchell Hays sentenced Brian Lansing Martin to death for killing Sheffield Police Sgt. Nick Risner.

Monday's order is the sentence on the capital-murder conviction, after the jury's unanimous death recommendation. Rocket City Now reported seven more maximum terms, to run one after another, and did not print a number of years for each. WHNT's 10-count list is the September verdict, and the 90 minutes it reported are not the 25 minutes Rocket City Now reported for the death recommendation. The accusation that he killed William Mealback Jr. is a separate case.

Rocket City Now reported Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, that Judge Mitchell Hays sentenced Brian Lansing Martin to death in Tuscumbia for the Oct. 1, 2021 shooting death of Sheffield Police Sgt. Nick Risner. The station reported a jury unanimously recommended death after 25 minutes of deliberations, that Martin was convicted of capital murder last month, and that Hays made that recommendation the sentence on Monday. It reported Hays also imposed the maximum sentence on seven additional counts and ordered those terms to run consecutively, according to the Colbert County District Attorney's Office. It did not print how many years each of those seven counts carries. District Attorney Hal Hughston said, "Today's sentence represents justice and accountability for the murder of Sergeant Nick Risner," and that no sentence can restore Risner's life or erase his family's loss.

WHNT reported a News 19 crew at the courthouse saw Martin sentenced to death for murdering Risner in October 2021. The station reported he was given a chance to speak, including to Risner's family, that he claimed he was being "gangstalked" for more than two years before Oct. 1, 2021, and that he called his treatment by law enforcement "disgusting." WHNT reported he did not apologize. It reported that in September a jury found him guilty of 10 counts after 90 minutes: three counts of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder, three counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle, and one count of certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm. It reported he spent two days testifying. The 90 minutes are WHNT's account of the guilt deliberations. The 25 minutes are Rocket City Now's account of the death recommendation. WAFF reported Monday that Martin was in court at 9 a.m., that a jury convicted him last month and recommended death, and that the judge made the recommendation official. WAFF's Monday story did not name the judge.

The Mealback case is not the case sentenced Monday. Rocket City Now reported Martin is accused of killing William Mealback Jr., described as his friend, before the chase that ended with Risner's death, that the cases were separated, and that the September trial and conviction were in Risner's killing. It reported a pretrial hearing on Jan. 27 at 9 a.m. in Colbert County Circuit Court and a trial set to begin Feb. 1. It did not print a year next to either date. WAFF reported prosecutors say Martin killed Mealback and threw his body out of a car on Oct. 1, 2021, that Risner responded to that call and was shot and killed, and that Martin will stand trial in Mealback's death later. The account of the body being thrown from a car is WAFF's report of what prosecutors say. It is not the count on which Hays imposed death. Rocket City Now reported Mealback's daughter, Nicole Mealback, has said she is looking forward to those proceedings.

Monday's death sentence is the judgment on the Risner capital-murder conviction. The seven other maximum terms are what the district attorney's office told Rocket City Now, without a year attached to each count in that story. The Mealback accusation is still a charge. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.