Although Karl Bryan Hodge never

took the stand to defend himself of murder charges, he was still caught

in his own lie.

While investigating the murder

of drug dealer Adolf Stubbs, Hodge told police he was working at a Pizza

Hut the night drug dealer Adolf Stubbs' body was left in a burning SUV

in Fayette County. But a Pizza Hut employee took the stand and testified

that Hodge couldn't have worked the evening of March 31, 1999 because

he had been terminated from that store.

Although police never found

the murder weapon, another key piece of physical evidence caught Hodge

in another lie. Hodge explained some of the burns on his arm and face

to police by saying they came when his lawnmower caught fire.

The lawnmower was shown to

the jury, and it didn't have any scorch marks present that could indicate

it had caught fire.

"They looked a lot worse

than that," said Maj. Bruce Jordan of the Fayette County Sheriff's

Department, referring to a photo of burn marks on Hodge's head.

Eyewitnesses said Hodge was

burned after he dropped the match that ignited a trail of gasoline to

start the blaze that burned the SUV, in an attempt to destroy evidence

of Stubbs' murder.

Judge Christopher Edwards sentenced

Hodge to life in prison on the murder charge and an additional 25 years

on the other charges, all of which will be served consecutively. Co-defendant

Glen Simon Hamilton, accused of ordering Stubbs's death, will face a trial

on murder charges later this year.

Securing Hodge's conviction

was no easy task for police and prosecutors. Enlarged photographs of witnesses

and participants in the murder alongside their various aliases helped

guide the jury through complicated testimony.

For example, star witness Paul

Hylton referred to Hodge as A.K. and he called Hamilton "Rizzler."

Other witnesses said they knew Hamilton as "Paul Anderson."

The discovery of Hylton's whereabouts

several months ago was also crucial to the case against Hodge. He was

the sole witness who saw the shooting take place. Investigators from the

Fayette County Sheriff's Department were tipped off to Hylton's whereabouts

and they flew to Jamaica to place him under arrest and interview him.

While Hylton's testimony was

damaging to Hodge's defense, his presence helped Hodge escape the death

penalty. Jamaican authorities would not extradite Hylton without guarantees

he wouldn't face the death penalty.

Since Hylton was also charged

with murder at the time, along with Hodge and Hamilton, prosecutors were

forced to drop the death penalty against Hodge and Hamilton also.

Just weeks before the trial,

Maj. Bruce Jordan of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department had to hunt

down one of the key witnesses Stubbs' girlfriend in New York.

The two eyewitnesses to the

murder and fire also suffered from credibility problems. Hylton, who was

in the SUV when Hodge shot Stubbs in the back of the head, left Atlanta

several weeks after the murder with $40,000 in his pocket without referring

the matter to police.

Then there's Clive Lancelot

Williams, who lied to police about his real name until the falsehood was

discovered by one of Hodge's attorneys. He claimed to be the driver of

the getaway car that followed the SUV before Stubbs was shot and the vehicle

was set ablaze and abandoned.

The jury saw enough evidence

to convict Hodge of murder, arson, concealing the death of a person and

illegal firearms possession.

Stubbs was in Atlanta for a

drug deal, planning to steal 300 pounds of marijuana from another dealer,

witnesses testified. Then Hamilton and Hodge stole the marijuana from

Stubbs before he was killed, others said in court.