Jurors convicted Brian Mann in 2025; appeals and motions continue in Alabama courts.
HARTSELLE, Ala. — A Morgan County judge sentenced former chiropractor Brian Mann to life in prison after a jury found he tried to kill his wife, Hannah Pettey, by giving her lead-laced pills during a bitter split, a case now winding through appeals.
The verdict capped a yearslong saga that began as a medical emergency. Pettey, then in her mid-20s, landed in a Birmingham hospital with extreme lead levels and a cascade of complications. Detectives traced her timeline, seized supplements and combed through construction and insurance records. Prosecutors said the paper trail, medical testimony and Mann’s own access to lead proved a plan to quietly poison her. Defense attorneys pressed gaps in the timeline and chain-of-custody questions. The jury deliberated over two days before returning a guilty verdict in June 2025; the judge issued the life sentence two months later.
Court records show investigators looked at building work at Mann’s practice that used lead, as well as multiple life insurance policies that named him beneficiary, totaling more than $1 million if Pettey died. In sworn testimony, a UAB physician described her lead concentration as far above normal and said the levels were consistent with ingestion, not background exposure. “Astronomical” was how clinicians characterized her numbers, according to investigators. Prosecutors argued that Mann supplied vitamins and encouraged Pettey to continue taking them as her health deteriorated, while he presented himself as a fellow victim after the diagnosis.
At trial, jurors heard from Pettey, relatives, detectives, medical experts and lawyers for both sides. The defense contended the state had not proved when or how the lead entered Pettey’s system, noting that investigators did not recover a single container that conclusively matched the dose. Prosecutors said the case did not hinge on a single pill bottle but on a chain of behavior and documents. The panel agreed with the state’s theory. In August 2025, the court imposed the maximum sentence under Alabama law. Motions for acquittal or a new trial were denied that fall. Mann remains in custody while his case proceeds on appeal.
The legal fight now centers on appellate filings and the record. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has directed the Morgan County court to rule on certain outstanding motions tied to the case file. Any further hearings will be set after the record is complete. Appeals could challenge evidentiary rulings, jury instructions and the sufficiency of proof about the source and timing of the lead. The state maintains the evidence was enough: motive tied to money, means through access to lead, and months of health decline tracked to pills under Mann’s control.
Outside the courtroom, Pettey has spoken briefly about recovery and the strain of a trial that put her medical history on display. Friends in the Hartselle and Decatur area described a community stunned by the diagnosis and later by the allegations against someone known from a local clinic. After the verdict, prosecutors thanked jurors for weighing unusual medical evidence; defense counsel said the case would continue on appeal and asked the public to reserve judgment. The national spotlight returned this month with a primetime broadcast revisiting the diagnosis, interviews and the evidence presented at trial.
As of Monday, Mann’s conviction and life sentence stand while appeals move forward. The next milestone is expected with appellate rulings on the record and briefing schedule in the coming weeks.
Author note: Last updated January 12, 2026.