Billy Adams III, a 28-year-old Tampa rapper known professionally as Ace NH, has asked a Florida judge to sentence him to death following his conviction for the January 2023 killings of his pregnant girlfriend, Alana Sims, and her unborn child. His request, made in a handwritten letter filed with the court on October 12, 2026, comes after a jury recommended life imprisonment for Sims’ murder but voted 8–4 in favor of execution for the death of her unborn child.
According to FOX 13 Tampa Bay, Adams specifically asked to waive further mitigation arguments at his December 1 sentencing hearing. “I don’t want my lawyers to present any mitigation or arguments at this hearing, and I am asking this court to sentence me to what the jury voted for,” he wrote.
He added that his lawyers had explained mitigation and the consequences of waiving it and said he had no objection to the death penalty. He also asked his attorneys to respect his wishes when they appeared in court.
The request is unusual because capital defendants generally seek to persuade courts to spare their lives. Adams, by contrast, is asking the judge to follow the jury’s death recommendation while limiting his lawyers’ opportunity to argue for a lesser punishment.
Criminal defense attorney Anthony Rickman, who is not involved in the case, told FOX 13 that a defendant facing life behind bars might view execution as an end to that prospect. “You’re not getting old and gray behind bars,” Rickman said, discussing the possible mindset behind such a decision. He did not claim to know Adams’ personal motivation.
The killing, the Prosecution’s Case, and the September Verdict
Sims, 22, was found dead on January 30, 2023, in an unfinished section of the Easton Park neighborhood in New Tampa, Hillsborough County. Her approximately 18-month-old son was asleep in an SUV nearby and was unharmed. Sims was about five months pregnant.
Prosecutors argued that Adams lured Sims to the secluded location and shot her in the back of the head from approximately three feet away. They alleged that he wanted to continue his relationship with another woman, described during testimony as his “main” girlfriend, and did not want the pregnancy to interfere with that relationship.
Testimony included text messages exchanged between Adams and Lakenya Brantley, the other woman, as well as evidence from an inmate who said Adams had written letters directing women to provide investigators with false alibis. The defense challenged the inmate’s credibility and argued that Sims’ pregnancy did not necessarily threaten Adams’ relationship with Brantley. It also emphasized that Adams was subsequently determined not to be the unborn child’s biological father.
The case followed Adams’ acquittal in an unrelated double-murder prosecution just three days before Sims was killed. That earlier verdict concerned a separate case and presumably did not determine his guilt in Sims’ death.
On September 1, 2026, jurors deliberated for approximately five to six hours before convicting Adams on two first-degree murder counts. During the subsequent penalty phase, prosecutors described Sims’ killing as a “cold, calculated, pre-meditated murder.” Jurors recommended life without parole for Sims’ murder and death for the unborn child’s killing.
The December 1 Hearing
Adams’ letter does not automatically make the jury’s death recommendation his final sentence. Circuit Judge Mark Wolfe must still complete the sentencing process, including considering the aggravating circumstances and mitigating evidence already presented during the trial. Whether Adams can waive additional mitigation arguments remains unresolved, according to FOX 13.
The defense previously presented testimony from Adams’ stepmother and younger brothers, who described him as a good student from a supportive family. His brother spoke of Adams’ influence on his education, while his stepmother became emotional describing their relationship. Sims’ family, meanwhile, spoke about the lasting consequences of losing her. Her sister, CarliAnna Robinson, said, "I miss her voice, I miss her presence, I miss knowing that she was here.”
The December 1 Spencer hearing will give the court an opportunity to consider final arguments before formal sentencing. Adams’ request places an unusual question before the judge: how far can a convicted defendant go in directing his own punishment when the state is seeking the ultimate penalty? In any case, the court’s decision, not Adams’ letter alone, will determine his sentence.
Source: mensjournal.com, Philip Uwaoma, October 22, 2026
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
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