FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2026
MOBILE, Alabama – Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood announced that Walter Thames has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2025 shooting death of 65-year-old Patricia Odoms.
A Mobile County jury convicted Thames in May of provocation manslaughter for shooting Odoms on July 4, 2025. Odoms later succumbed to the injuries she sustained in the shooting.
The shooting occurred at an extended-stay motel on Matzenger Drive, where Thames was living at the time. Evidence presented at trial showed that Thames shot Odoms with a shotgun. Thames claimed that he acted in self-defense and that Odoms had a machete. Prosecutors presented evidence showing that the machete was located across the room from where Odoms collapsed and that Thames had altered the crime scene following the shooting.
“Patricia Odoms lost her life because of the defendant’s actions, and we are pleased that he has been held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said District Attorney Keith Blackwood.
At the State’s recommendation, the judge sentenced Thames to the maximum sentence of 20 years in the Alabama Department of Corrections.
The State was represented by Assistant District Attorneys Katy Sipper and Danni Ferris, Trial Coordinator Anabel Sheppard and Victim Service Officer Reagan Frost.