For Immediate Release:
June 27, 2023
(MONTGOMERY)—Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the convictions of Rex Duard Tidmore, age 65 of Geraldine, for conspiracy to commit human trafficking, first-degree sodomy, twenty counts of possession of obscene matter depicting a minor, trafficking in cannabis, and numerous other drug-related crimes. Tidmore was convicted in the Dekalb County Circuit Court on March 7, 2022.
The evidence at trial showed that a confidential informant contacted a Dekalb County Sheriff’s deputy and told him about drug activity going on at Tidmore’s house and that Tidmore was interested in buying her ten-year-old daughter for sexual activity. The informant was then provided a recording device and went back and spoke with Tidmore and recorded him discussing both the drug activity at his house as well as his sexual interest in small children. A subsequent search revealed over 300 pounds of marijuana as well as child pornography in Tidmore’s house.
Dekalb County District Attorney Summer Summerford’s office successfully prosecuted this case and obtained the guilty verdicts. Tidmore was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Tidmore sought to have his convictions reversed on appeal.
The Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division handled the case during the appeals process, arguing for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm Tidmore’s convictions. The Court did so in a decision issued Friday, June 16, 2023.
Attorney General Marshall commends Assistant Attorney General Christopher D. Howell for his successful work on this case and thanks District Attorney Summer Summerford and her staff for their valuable assistance in defending these convictions.
