Carl Hannah Slaying Suspects.jpg

Arshakia Chanae Walker and Fernando Gulley are charged with manslaughter in the beating death of 56-year-old Carl Hannah Jr.

(Jefferson County Jail)

A man and a woman are charged with manslaughter in the beating death of a 56-year-old man earlier this year.

A Jefferson County grand jury has indicted Fernando Gulley, 37, and Arshakia Chanae Walker, 27. The pair was initially arrested in April, court records show, but those arrests were never announced.

They are charged in the death of Carl Hannah Jr. The assault happened Sunday, Feb. 17, in the 200 block of Fourth Terrace North. Police responded to the location on a report of an unresponsive man, and found him there unconscious.

Carl Hannah Jr.

Hannah was taken to UAB Hospital, where he remained in intensive care until he was pronounced Thursday, March 10, at 2:28 p.m. Before he died, Hannah told officers he was assaulted by two suspects.

According to the indictments against Walker and Gulley, the pair is accused of beating Hannah with "hands and/or feet and/or an unknown object." They "caused the death due to a sudden heat of passion caused by provocation recognized by law and before a reasonable time for the passion to cool and for reason to reassert itself."

Authorities said the suspects and the victim knew each other, and that Hannah at one point had dated Walker. No additional details were made available.

Walker and Gulley are both out of jail on $30,000 bond. No court dates have yet been announced.