Mobile mayoral candidate Spiro Cheriogotis wants you to believe that he was shaped by childhood trauma. In a campaign ad, he looks into the camera and says, “When I was 4, I saw a man try to kill my father. My dad defended himself and ended up in prison.” If that story were true, it would mean the justice system failed not once, but twice.

But this is a well-crafted fantasy—and the records prove otherwise.

Court transcripts, police reports, and two separate jury verdicts tell a story far removed from self-defense. What actually happened that November day in 1987 was this: Nicholas Cheriogotis pursued a man he disliked, instigated a confrontation, and then shot him in the back. His son Spiro watched from the truck as it unfolded.

The victim was Allbun Lamar Smith, a former employee of Ni

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