CULLMAN, Ala. – Jerome Flanigan, convicted of reckless manslaughter in the 2016 death of Leslie Clements, was released from prison yesterday after serving four years, over three years in Cullman County Detention Center and the remaining months in an Alabama state prison.
Originally indicted on charges including murder by administration of a controlled substance or charges of murder by strangulation or suffocation and reckless manslaughter by administration of a controlled substance. Flanigan was also charged with corpse abuse, arson and first-degree theft of property.
The autopsy report for Clements was not clear-cut despite the deadly amount of methamphetamines found in Clements’ system. After conferring with the victim’s grandmother at the conclusion of Flanigan’s arson trial where he was found not guilty, District Attorney Wilson Blaylock offered the plea deal.
As Flanigan admitted that he was the person who supplied Clements with the drugs, he pleaded guilty to the lesser of the charges relating to her death.
Sentenced to a 20-year split sentence with four years served, Flanigan will serve five years on supervised probation. Bryant confirmed that Flanigan is registered with the Cullman County probation office.
Also indicted in Clements’ death was Kayla Thursby who has yet to stand trial due to the docket backlog from COVID per Bryant. Thursby’s charges include murder by strangulation or suffocation, first-degree theft of property, murder by administration of controlled substances, corpse abuse and reckless manslaughter in the same incident. Thursby is out of jail on bond.
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