Dontae Callen: Birmingham Murders, Disability Ruling, Appeals

Dontae Callen is an Alabama death row inmate convicted of stabbing three relatives to death in a Birmingham apartment in October 2010 and setting the apartment on fire. He was 18 at the time of the killings, confessed to police, and was convicted in 2013 of three counts of capital murder. A Jefferson County jury recommended death by an 11-to-1 vote, Circuit Judge Laura Petro imposed the sentence, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review his case in June 2019.¹

What Happened on October 29, 2010

Birmingham emergency crews were called to Bernice Kelly’s apartment around 4:00 a.m. after a 911 report of a fire. Lt. Warren Calvert of the Birmingham Fire Department found the front door blocked. Firefighters forced their way in and discovered three bodies, all covered in blood from stab wounds.²

The victims were Callen’s great-aunt Bernice Kelly, 59, stabbed 18 times in the upper body; his cousin Quortes Kelly, 33, stabbed dozens of times; and his 12-year-old cousin Aaliyah Budgess, stabbed repeatedly in the neck and head. Aaliyah had been living with Bernice Kelly so she could attend a local private school. Forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Simmons testified that all three died from multiple sharp-force trauma, and that none had carbon monoxide in their lungs, meaning they were dead or dying before the fire took hold.²

Fire investigator Lt. Fitzgerald Mosely determined the fire was intentionally set with multiple points of origin. According to the evidence at trial, Callen had been drinking beer with Quortes Kelly in a bedroom before he started stabbing him, then killed Bernice Kelly and Aaliyah Budgess, lit clothing inside the apartment on fire, and left through the back door.¹

How Police Identified Callen

Detective Warren Cotton of the Birmingham Police Department met Callen at the hospital where Bernice Kelly had been taken. Callen appeared nervous, had cuts on his body, and had a red substance in one ear. DNA testing later confirmed it was a mixture of his own blood and Quortes Kelly’s blood. Blood matching Quortes Kelly was also found on clothing at Callen’s home.²

Officer Roxanne Murry recovered two knives, a sandal, blood-soaked clothing, and red-stained mittens from a sewer about a block from the apartment. Forensic testing showed the knives could have caused any of the victims’ wounds.³

Callen, who told police he had recently turned 18, gave a recorded confession. He admitted stabbing all three victims and lighting clothing on fire with a lighter. He described where each person was when he left: Quortes in a bedroom, Bernice near the front door, Aaliyah by the bathroom. He said he threw the knife down the street. “It just happened so fast,” he told investigators. “I don’t know why I did it.”¹

Callen’s Background

Court filings describe severe neglect and abuse throughout Callen’s childhood. His mother had PTSD, depression, and anxiety stemming from her own childhood sexual and physical abuse, an IQ of 70, and a drug addiction. She repeatedly abandoned him, sometimes leaving him on his grandmother’s porch, and at one point told the Alabama Department of Human Resources she did not want custody of her children. DHR held 13 hearings during Callen’s childhood to determine where he would live. He moved between relatives who often turned him away for lack of money or willingness to care for him, frequently going without a bed, clothes, or food. When he was 11, a neighbor called DHR because he was begging for food.⁴

When he lived with his mother he was physically abused by her and her partners. He also experienced repeated sexual abuse, including molestation by his cousin Quortes Kelly, one of the people he later killed. By age 12 he had been diagnosed with significant depression and also suffered from PTSD, severe anxiety disorder, and dissociative disorder, none of which were treated. He attended multiple schools, had learning disabilities, repeated the tenth and eleventh grades, and failed the Alabama graduation test twice. At 16 he scored an IQ of 69.⁴

Several months before the killings, Bernice Kelly told Callen she could no longer support him financially, and he moved in with his grandmother. Deputy District Attorney Julie McMakin told the jury during opening statements that although his parents were often absent, his extended family had supported him, and that “they deserve justice.”⁵

Trial, Intellectual Disability Ruling, and Sentence

Callen was indicted in May 2011 on three counts of capital murder in Jefferson County. The counts charged murder of two or more people in one course of conduct, murder of a child under 14, and murder during an arson.³

Before trial, the defense asked that Callen be treated as a youthful offender, which would have taken the death penalty off the table. The court denied that request after investigating his background. The defense also raised a claim under Atkins v. Virginia, the 2002 Supreme Court decision barring execution of intellectually disabled defendants. Defense expert Dr. Ron Meredith reported a Full Scale IQ of 75 and a General Ability Index of 73 on a standardized test administered by his partner and, adjusting for the standard error of measurement, concluded Callen was intellectually disabled. The state pointed to an earlier evaluation by counselor Gilbert Robbins, who had tested Callen at 16 and gotten a Full Scale IQ of 69 but cautioned the result was unreliable because Callen showed low motivation and appeared angry during testing. The state also introduced a sixth-grade psychological evaluation placing Callen in the “low average” range, and noted that he had appeared articulate during police interviews. The circuit court denied the Atkins claim, finding Callen had not proven intellectual disability by a preponderance of the evidence.²

A jury found Callen guilty on all three counts. After a separate penalty hearing, the jury recommended death by a vote of 11 to 1. On August 20, 2013, Judge Petro imposed the death sentence.⁶ The case was tried under Alabama’s pre-2017 capital sentencing system, under which a jury’s sentencing recommendation was advisory and need not be unanimous. Alabama remained the only state at the time that allowed a death recommendation on a non-unanimous jury vote.⁷

Appeals

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed the case for plain error, as it does in all death penalty cases. The defense argued that the trial court had wrongly denied youthful offender treatment, had failed to properly account for the standard error of measurement on IQ scores under Hall v. Florida, and had deprived Callen of counsel during his court-ordered psychological examination. The appellate court rejected each argument. On April 28, 2017, it affirmed the convictions but sent the case back for Judge Petro to expand her written findings on two of the three aggravating circumstances. After she issued an amended sentencing order, the court affirmed the death sentence on August 11, 2017.⁶³

The Supreme Court of Alabama denied certiorari on November 16, 2018. Callen then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging a search warrant ruling and arguing that his non-unanimous 11-to-1 death recommendation violated the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. He asked the Court to hold his petition pending its decision in Ramos v. Louisiana, which was then considering non-unanimous jury verdicts. The Alabama Attorney General’s office opposed the petition, pointing to Ex parte Bohannon (2016), in which the Alabama Supreme Court had held that Alabama’s capital sentencing system survived the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hurst v. Florida.⁴⁸ In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari without comment, ending Callen’s direct appeals.¹

Where Things Stand Now

Callen remains on Alabama’s death row. The Alabama Department of Corrections listed 153 inmates on death row as of mid-2026.⁹ No execution date has been publicly reported. After the denial of certiorari, Callen could still seek state post-conviction relief under Alabama Rule of Criminal Procedure 32, though the available record does not confirm whether a Rule 32 petition has been filed.

1
AL.com. Death Row Inmate Convicted of Stabbing Aunt, Cousins Won’t Have U.S. Supreme Court Review
2
FindLaw. Callen v. State, Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
3
U.S. Supreme Court. Callen v. Alabama, Brief in Opposition
4
U.S. Supreme Court. Callen v. Alabama, Petition for Writ of Certiorari
5
AL.com. Birmingham Firefighter Testifies in Capital Murder Trial
6
AL.com. Alabama Appeals Court Affirms Capital Murder Conviction
7
Death Penalty Information Center. Alabama Legislature Votes to End Judicial Override
8
Alabama Attorney General. AG Strange Praises Alabama Supreme Court Ruling That Alabama’s Death Penalty Is Constitutional
9
Alabama Department of Corrections. Death Row Inmates