Kortney Alexander Nichols was 21 when he was shot to death in his Birmingham, Alabama apartment on December 23, 2009. He had moved into the residence four days earlier. The attack began as an attempted robbery: two people came to the door using a false name to try to gain entry. When Nichols realized what was happening and tried to close the door, he was shot through the door and died from the wound.

The Birmingham Police Department opened a homicide investigation that resulted in the arrest of four people who were charged in connection with his killing. A judge later bound the case over to a grand jury for indictment. Nichols’s mother and younger brother were left grieving; his mother has described the profound loss to their family and the impact on his sibling.