Jurors favored life for Alana Sims’ murder but recommended death for the separate killing of her unborn child.
TAMPA, Fla. — A Hillsborough County judge is preparing to decide the sentence of Billy Adams III after jurors reached sharply different penalty recommendations for two murder convictions arising from the deaths of Alana Sims and her unborn child.
The same jury that convicted Adams, 28, in September recommended life in prison without parole for the first-degree murder of Sims but voted 8-4 for death on the count involving her unborn child. The unusual split now leaves Circuit Judge Mark Wolfe to complete the capital sentencing process, with a hearing scheduled for Dec. 1.
The sentencing stage took another turn when Adams sent Wolfe a letter asking to receive the death sentence recommended by the jury. The letter, filed Oct. 12, also asked the court to allow Adams to waive further mitigation and prevent his lawyers from making additional arguments aimed at avoiding a death sentence.
The jury’s recommendations came after Adams was convicted in the January 2023 killing of Sims, 22, who was pregnant. Sims was found dead near her vehicle in a New Tampa neighborhood. Her 18-month-old child was found sleeping inside the vehicle and was unharmed.
Prosecutors argued that Adams deliberately killed Sims. The case included two separate homicide counts because Florida law allowed prosecutors to pursue a charge for the killing of an unborn child through injury to the mother. Adams was found guilty on both counts, but the penalty phase produced different recommendations for each death.
For Sims’ murder, jurors recommended life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. For the unborn child’s killing, eight jurors supported death and four opposed it. That vote was sufficient to produce a death recommendation under the law governing the proceeding.
The jury’s decision did not automatically place Adams on death row. Florida law requires the trial judge to review the aggravating factors found by the jury and the mitigating circumstances established in the case before deciding whether to impose death after such a recommendation. The judge may instead impose life imprisonment without parole when the law permits that alternative.
That judicial review is especially important now because Adams is seeking to stop his attorneys from presenting additional mitigating evidence. Mitigation can include evidence offered to explain why a defendant should receive a lesser punishment even after a capital conviction. Whether Adams may waive further presentation of such material remains for the court to determine.
Any waiver would not erase evidence already placed in the record. Wolfe is still expected to consider mitigation presented during the penalty phase, along with the aggravating circumstances and the jury’s findings, before entering a final sentence. Adams’ written request therefore expresses his preferred outcome but does not replace the court’s legal duties.
The case also follows an unrelated prosecution that ended shortly before Sims was killed. Adams had been acquitted in a separate double-murder case three days before Sims’ death. That earlier acquittal did not establish guilt or innocence in the Sims case, which was prosecuted separately and resulted in the September convictions.
Adams’ upcoming hearing will determine whether the court accepts his request to forgo additional mitigation and, ultimately, whether the jury’s death recommendation becomes the final sentence on the count involving Sims’ unborn child. The life recommendation for Sims’ murder remains a separate part of the sentencing decision.
Author note: Last updated October 21, 2026.