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Netflix's I Am A Killer features Ashley Morrison and her boyfriend Christian Sims, who were found guilty of the 2014 murder of Annie Lois Sims, Christian Sims’s grandmother. It was reported that Christian shot her several times while Ashley was present by his side.
Although Ashley did not pull the trigger, she was still convicted of this crime as she was a willing participant, and the jury found her guilty of the same. Also, as the murder happened in Texas, under the Texas Law of Parties, if someone is an accomplice to the killer, that person is deemed equally guilty.
Season 5 episode 2 of I Am A Killer deals with the murder of Annie Lois Sims and has exclusives from the killers and other people related to the case. The episode is titled Lost Innocence and the synopsis for the same reads:
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"Young love takes a dark turn when Ashley Morrison's plan to run away with her boyfriend, Christian Sims, results in the murder of his grandmother."
Ashley Morrison and Christian Sims were involved in the murder of Annie Lois Sims
As revealed in I Am A Killer on Netflix, Ashley Morrison and her lover Christian Sims were taken into custody two days after Annie Lois Sims was murdered in 2014.
Instead of pursuing his case in court, the shooter, Christians Sims, entered a guilty plea in 2016 and was sentenced to 35 years in jail for first-degree murder. Ashley, however, did not plead guilty to the crime.
Ashley Morrison was interviewed several times by the police post-arrest. On the show, Texas Ranger Stacy McNeal revealed that when he interviewed Ashley the first time, she claimed that she possessed no knowledge about the death of Christian’s grandmother. She also mentioned that Christian did not have a rifle.
In the second interview, Ashley recanted her statements and changed a lot of information. She admitted that she had helped Christian load a rifle. She also added that Christian had told her that he was going to kill both his grandparents on the same night but she took no action and instead worked with him.
Therefore, under the Texas Law of Parties, Ashley Morrison was charged with the murder of Christian’s grandmother in 2017. Even though Ashley did not pull the trigger, by Texas laws, she was found guilty of being a willing participant by the jury.
She successfully overturned her verdict after appealing to a Texarkana appeals court and was ordered a new trial in 2019. Morrison went on to deny her second trial and instead pleaded guilty to the murder of Annie Lois Sims in exchange for a prison sentence that would not exceed 30 years.
The timeline of Ashley’s conviction
- March 12, 2015: Ashley Morrison was charged with Annie’s murder under the Texas Law of Parties.
- She refused a guilty plea.
- July 24, 2017, Ashley’s case went up for trial.
- After a 2-day trial, the jury found Ashley guilty of murder.
- She was sentenced to 30 years in jail in 2017.
- She appealed her conviction immediately.
- In March 2019, she successfully appealed her conviction and got a date for a new trial.
- In October 2019, she denied the second trial and instead pleaded guilty.
- On March 24, 2020, she was sentenced to prison for 30 years, similar to her previous sentence.
Ashley Morrison is currently incarcerated at William P. Hobby Unit, Texas, and will be eligible for parole in December 2029.
To know more about this case, watch season 5, episode 2, of I Am a Killer on Netflix.
