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Annie Lois Sims' murder by her grandson, Christian Sims, is replayed in Netflix's latest true crime series, I Am a Killer. Ashley Morrison, Christian's girlfriend, was convicted of this 2014 murder.
Christian shot his grandmother several times and pleaded guilty to the same before his case could go to trial. He was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison for second-degree murder.
Although Ashley Morrison didn’t pull the trigger, there was evidence against her including text messages between her and the killer, which suggested that she was aware that the crime was going to happen. All the evidence convinced the jury that she was guilty and eventually, Ashley entered a plea deal and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
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Episode 2 of I Am a Killer season 5 featured interviews with both Christian and Ashley, after which viewers of the show found her arrest and sentencing unfair. A viewer shared their opinion on a Reddit thread and wrote about the Texas laws:
"I had to restart the episode, twice. I thought I missed something. I honestly became aggravated. I HATE cases like this especially in Texas. It’s clear that Ashley wasn’t there but Texas doesn’t care."
Other viewers of I Am a Killer, who held similar beliefs, wrote:
"That's basically what I told my wife. Regardless of what happened. At the end of the day this girl was completely fu*ked TWICE, by the sate of Texas," another Redditor commented.
"How does she get 30 years for basically being a trusting, naive teen girl and he gets only 5 years more than that for blowing away his own grandparent? Oviously she should have been given no more than 10 years...Texas is weird, another netizen remarked.
Many others supported Ashley Morrison, arguing that since she did not murder Annie Lois Sims, her 30-year prison sentence was unjust.
"This one kind of broke my heart tbh," a Redditor posted.
"Honestly I think her sentence was too harsh. It Texas don’t play around they will give you the death penalty in a heartbeat," a viewer wrote.
"This was such a disturbing and unfair case. She was immature and young and he was abused and disturbed clearly aggressive teen! Texas law system is crazy she does not deserve 30 years," another netizen wrote.
"As a Brit, it’s honestly unfathomable. Her sentence is ridiculous," another viewer wrote.
What was the evidence that surfaced against Ashley Morrison?
As shown in I Am a Killer episode 2 on Netflix, two days after the murder of Annie Lois Sims in December 2014, Ashley Morrison and Christian were taken into custody. As mentioned previously, Christian Sims pleaded guilty to this crime and was sent to jail for 35 years in 2016.
After Ashley’s arrest, she did not plead guilty. In fact, one of the Texas Rangers named Stacy McNeal, who interviewed her, revealed that during her first interview, Ashley told him that she did not have prior knowledge about Annie Lois Morrison’s death. She also mentioned that Christian did not have a gun in his possession.
Ashley Morrison, however, claimed in the second interview that she had assisted Christian in loading the firearm that he used to murder his grandmother. Ashley's retraction of the earlier claims and revision of important details in both interviews did not put her in a favorable light in front of the jury.
There were also text messages between the arrested couple, which featured Christian revealing his murderous intentions to Ashley. She was eventually sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2017 for being an accomplice in the crime.
However, Ashley appealed her conviction and got a new trial date. But in 2019, she denied the second trial and pleaded guilty, after which she was charged with second-degree murder and was sent to prison once again for 30 years.
She is currently incarcerated at the William P. Hobby Unit, located in Texas, serving her sentence.
What are your thoughts on Ashley Morrison's conviction? Let us know in the comments below.
