Location: The 1100 block of Dogwood Lane in Birmingham, Alabama, as seen on Google Maps. Inset on the left: Melvin Morris (Birmingham Police Department). Inset on the right: Devonta Reddick (Eastside Funeral Home).
A man has learned his fate for murdering a man and significantly wounding his pregnant girlfriend during a home invasion in Birmingham, Alabama.
Melvin Charles Morris, aged 46, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by Tenth Judicial Circuit Judge Stephen Wallace, according to AL.com. In July, a Jefferson County jury found Morris guilty of felony murder and first-degree assault.
The horrific events transpired over five years ago, on February 6, 2020, when Devonta Reddick, his partner Sabrea Baylor, and their three-year-old were asleep in their Dogwood Lane residence. Around 6:30 a.m., Morris and at least one other accomplice broke into their home, according to authorities.
The disturbing sequence of events that ensued was described by the 25-year-old Baylor in testimony also covered by AL.com. Reddick confronted the intruders, with Baylor following behind, armed. As shots were fired, with Baylor sustaining a leg injury, she retaliated. Reddick urged her to secure their child, leading Baylor to rush to her son’s room and shut the door.
“Where is she?” a voice reportedly asked while approaching her position. Baylor and at least one suspect exchanged gunfire, resulting in her sustaining multiple injuries but also hitting Morris in the neck. The attackers fled, and Baylor managed to reach her grandparents’ home across the street for assistance.
Officers from the Birmingham Police Department arrived at the scene to find Reddick, aged 27, unresponsive in the yard. He was later declared dead. Baylor received treatment for her injuries.
She gave birth to their child the very next day.
About six months later, Morris was arrested by U.S. marshals in Nashville, Tennessee, and transported back to jail in Jefferson County, Alabama. He was originally charged with capital murder and attempted murder.
Cameron Dejuan Blanding (Jefferson County Jail).
Three months after that, in November 2020, another arrest was made, this time for Morris’ alleged accomplice, then-28-year-old Cameron Dejuan Blanding. Jail records show that he was charged with capital murder and attempted murder.
Fast forward to October 2025, when Baylor spoke in court during Morris’ sentencing. If he had any remorse, he didn’t show it, the woman expressed, actually displaying the opposite.
“Mr. Morris laughed during the trial. He stared at me and showed no remorse,” she said, per the local website. “He laughed at our family. He laughed in our faces.”
Blanding is set to go on trial in June 2026. Morris was reportedly sentenced to two consecutive life sentences under the state’s habitual offender laws because he had already been convicted of two felonies.
Reddick was remembered by his sister, Karlisha Reddick, as “a very sweet person, always laughing and making jokes.”
She added: “He was always the person that kept the family together, that wanted everybody to be together. He was a really good man.”
