Oak Ridge Today

Five arrested after drug investigation in Anderson County

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Michael Antonio Johnson

Michael Antonio Johnson

Note: This story was updated at 10:32 p.m.

Five people were arrested Friday, May 13, after a search warrant was served at an Old Dutch Valley Road home, authorities said. Anderson County Sheriff’s Department investigators and agents with the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force were assisted by the Sheriff’s Aggressive Criminal Enforcement Unit and Special Weapons and Tactics Team in serving the search warrant, which was obtained after an investigation into illegal drug and other criminal activity at the home, a press release said.

The two residents of the home, Michael Antonio Johnson, 44, and Lucy Jane Lowe, 35, were arrested for several felony and misdemeanor drug, weapons, and conspiracy offenses, the press release said.

Two others, Branden Charles Dye, 23, of Clinton, and Roxanne Nicole Luckey, of Briceville, were arrested for misdemeanor drug charges, authorities said. [Read more…]

Wanted by TBI, Rogersville fugitive captured in Hawkins County

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Gary Simpson

Gary Simpson

A Rogersville man who was added to the TBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list Thursday was captured later that afternoon in Hawkins County, authorities said.

Gary Simpson, 57, was wanted by the Rogersville Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for especially aggravated kidnapping.

On May 4, Simpson kidnapped 9-year-old Carlie Marie Trent from school, the TBI said. He had no custodial rights to Carlie.

Simpson was the suspect of the AMBER Alert issued this month for Carlie Trent. [Read more…]

Vehicular homicide charge added to DUI charge after passenger dies

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Scott Allen Gray

Scott Allen Gray

 

A Knoxville man who admitted to drinking for two days straight and taking two Klonopins has now been charged with vehicular homicide, in addition to driving under the influence, after his 23-year-old passenger, Jessica Miner Taylor, of Heiskell, died about one week after a two-vehicle crash on Clinton Highway in Anderson County in April, authorities said.

Scott Allen Gray, 26, was initially charged with vehicular assault and DUI (second offense) after the two-vehicle crash injured three people at the intersection of Clinton Highway and Mehaffey Road on Thursday, April 28.

The vehicular homicide charge was added after Jessica Miner Taylor, who had been trapped in the car, died this month.

The THP said Gray was driving north on Clinton Highway in a 1993 Eagle Vision sedan on April 28 when he turned into the path of a southbound 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicle driven by Kimberly Williamson, 32, of Knoxville.

The SUV driven by Williamson hit the car driven by Gray. [Read more…]

Life without parole, not death, in first-degree murder case

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Norman-Follis-Norman-Follis-Trial-May-10-2016

Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, received life without parole on Thursday, May 12, 2016, after being convicted of first-degree murder in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court on Tuesday, May 10, for killing his uncle in Claxton more than four years ago. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 11:15 a.m.

CLINTON—An Anderson County man convicted of first-degree murder on Tuesday avoided the death penalty on Thursday, but he did receive a sentence of life without parole.

A jury of eight women and four men unanimously agreed on that decision after more than seven hours of deliberations on Wednesday and Thursday. Besides death and life without parole, they could have also returned a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

The jury said that prosecutors had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing of Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, sometime in mid-December 2011 was especially, heinous, atrocious, or cruel, and that Adams was 70 or older. Those were two of the four aggravating factors the jury could consider during the deliberations over whether to impose the death penalty against Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52.

Follis is Adams’ nephew, and he was convicted of first-degree murder for killing his uncle in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court on Tuesday.

Adams’ decomposing body was found buried under at least 10 blankets in a closet underneath a staircase at his apartment on Patt Lane in Claxton on January 24, 2012. A couch was shoved against the closet door. Adams had been reported missing. He died of strangulation. [Read more…]

Jury deliberating sentence in death penalty case

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Sammie-Adams-Picture-Norman-Follis-Trial-May-2016

Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, who was killed at 79, is pictured above about five years before his death, which the man convicted of his murder, his nephew Norman Lee Follis Jr., said occurred in December 2011. (Photo courtesy Sandra Follis)

 

CLINTON—An Anderson County jury is deliberating the sentence for Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, who was convicted on Tuesday of first-degree murder. The death penalty is one option.

The other two options are life without parole and life. No matter what happens, defense attorney Mart Cizek said, Follis will die in prison. Life with the possibility of parole has a 51-year minimum sentence, meaning Follis would be 103 before he would be eligible for release, if he receives the life sentence with the possibility of parole.

The jury convicted Follis on Tuesday of first-degree murder in the death of his uncle, Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, sometime between December 2011 and January 2012. Adams’ decomposing body was found on January 24, 2012, under a pile of at least 10 blankets in a closet under an apartment staircase on Patt Lane in Claxton after he was reported missing. He had been strangled. [Read more…]

Follis found guilty of first-degree murder in death penalty case

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Norman Lee Follis Jr May 10 2016

Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, is facing the death penalty as a possible sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, for killing his uncle in Claxton more than four years ago. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 11:15 a.m. May 11.

CLINTON—An Anderson County man who is facing the death penalty as a possible sentence was found guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday for killing his uncle in Claxton more than four years ago.

A jury of eight women and four men deliberated for about one hour and 40 minutes before unanimously returning the guilty verdict against Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52,  in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton. Follis was convicted of killing his uncle, Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, sometime between December 5, 2011, and January 24, 2012.

It was the first death penalty trial in Anderson County since 1991, officials said.

Adams’ body was found hidden underneath an apartment staircase on Patt Lane in Claxton on January 24, 2012, after he was reported missing in December 2011. His decomposing body was buried under at least 10 blankets, and a couch had been shoved up against the door of the closet where Adams was hidden, according to testimony.

Defense attorneys did not dispute that Follis killed his uncle, a Korean War veteran.

“We cannot whitewash that out,” attorney Mart Cizek said. [Read more…]

Woman charged with vehicular homicide, DUI after fatal crash on Friday

Posted at
By 5 Comments

Vickie Gay Gilmore

Vickie Gay Gilmore

Note: This story was last updated at 10:51 a.m.

An Oak Ridge woman has been charged with vehicular homicide and driving under the influence after a fatal crash that killed a 37-year-old mother on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Friday, authorities said.

The three-vehicle crash was reported at about 9:47 p.m. Friday, May 6, at the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Jefferson Avenue.

When they arrived, officers attempted to immediately extricate the driver of one vehicle, Christy Duncan, 37 of Harriman, and her 4-year-old daughter from their vehicle, which was severely damaged, according to the Oak Ridge Police Department.

Both victims were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where Duncan later succumbed to her injuries, the press release said. It said the 4-year-old is being treated for injuries. Another driver, Jason Watson, was uninjured. [Read more…]

Twenty-four indicted in second cocaine conspiracy of 300 grams or more

Posted at
By 4 Comments

Edward Javard Mitchell

Edward Javard Mitchell

Note: This story was last updated at 10:08 p.m.

Twenty-four people, most of them Oak Ridge residents, have been indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury in a second alleged cocaine conspiracy of 300 grams or more. That makes a total of 33 people who have been indicted in two separate conspiracies to allegedly manufacture, distribute, and sell 300 grams or more of cocaine last year.

There are other charges that apply to some of the suspects as well.

The indictments allege that the two conspiracies, one involving 11 people and the other involving 24, both occurred between May 14 and December 23, 2015. The indictments are being posted by the Anderson County Circuit Court Clerk following a drug suspect roundup that started Thursday and continued into Saturday in Oak Ridge. It’s not clear yet if other communities were involved, or if authorities have alleged additional conspiracies. Also, all the charges against all the defendants don’t appear to be posted yet.

Two of the defendants are named in both conspiracies.

Authorities have said little about the case so far. But they plan to release more information about what they have described as a complex, multi-county criminal investigation during a Monday afternoon press conference in the Clinton office of Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark. Authorities have said parts of the investigation were unprecedented. Local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies are expected to report on the investigation during the Monday afternoon press conference. [Read more…]

Jury in first-degree murder trial could be sequestered up to 2 weeks

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Norman Lee Follis

Norman Lee Follis

CLINTON—The jury in a first-degree murder trial that continues in Clinton on Monday could be sequestered for up to two weeks, a prosecutor said Friday.

That means jurors will be “separate and apart from others” during that time, said Tony Craighead, deputy district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District (Anderson County). Jurors will only be able to communicate with others by using the phone of a law enforcement officer and only under the supervision of an officer.

“You cannot have any contact with the outside world,” Craighead said in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton as prosecutors and defense attorney Mart Cizek questioned potential jurors in the courtroom and dismissed some, often four at a time.

Jurors can’t have cell phones or electronic devices, such as tablets or iPads. They can bring printed books, but not electronic ones. They will be prohibited from reading, hearing, or seeing any news about the trial for Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, who has been charged with first-degree murder, property theft of more than $1,000, and forgery. [Read more…]

Eleven indicted in alleged conspiracy to sell 300 grams or more of cocaine

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Jordan Antwan Jones

Jordan Antwan Jones

Note: This story was last updated at 10:25 p.m. May 9.

Eleven Oak Ridge and Knoxville residents were indicted May 3 on charges that they conspired to manufacture, distribute, and sell 300 grams or more of cocaine-based products last year.

The alleged cocaine conspiracy occurred between May 14 and December 23, 2015. The indictments were filed May 3, 2016.

The 11 indicted are:

  • Jordan Antwan Jones, 28, Tracy Lane, in Oak Ridge;
  • Deangelo James Galbreath, 28, Deer Run Drive, Knoxville;
  • Laquan Bernard Barber, 32, Hillside Road, Oak Ridge;
  • Derrick Jemail Anthony, 38, South Fisk Avenue, Oak Ridge;
  • Christopher Shane Black, 28, West Pasadena Lane, Oak Ridge;
  • Nicholas O’Brien Mitchell, 32, Tracy Lane, Oak Ridge;
  • William Ralph Sanders Jr., 38, South Benedict Avenue, Oak Ridge;
  • Alfred Lee Jones, 49, Black Rock Circle, Knoxville;
  • Ellen Michelle Sanders, 31, Nasson Lane, Oak Ridge;
  • Sarah Denise Cupp, 30, Aloha Avenue, Knoxville; and
  • Efia Ann Hull, 38, Deer Run Drive, Knoxville.

They are each facing Class A felony charges of:

  • conspiracy to manufacture 300 grams or more of cocaine,
  • conspiracy to distribute 300 grams or more of cocaine,
  • conspiracy to sell 300 grams or more of cocaine, and
  • conspiracy to possess with the intent to manufacture, deliver, or sell 300 grams or more of cocaine.

They have also been indicted on Class A felony charges of: [Read more…]

One person dies in three-vehicle crash on Turnpike on Friday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

One person died in a three-vehicle crash on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Friday night, authorities said.

The roadway was closed between Illinois and Louisiana avenues from just after 10 p.m. Friday until almost 2:30 a.m. Saturday, according to text alerts sent out by the Oak Ridge Police Department.

Additional information about the crash isn’t available yet, but the ORPD could have more information available later this evening.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Jail records: About two dozen arrests on drug-related charges Thursday

Posted at
By 16 Comments

Dave Clark

Dave Clark

Note: This story was last updated at 8:26 a.m.

There were about two dozen arrests on drug-related charges in Anderson County on Thursday, according to jail records, as authorities from several agencies swept through Oak Ridge and possibly other communities in what they’ve described as a multi-county criminal investigation.

The most common charge, by far, is manufacturing, delivering, selling, or possessing a controlled substance, according to Anderson County jail records. Counts on that charge vary from one to two dozen, according to jail records, with many of those arrested facing in the range of eight to 11 counts.

Other charges listed against a few of those arrested include possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony, unlawfully carrying a weapon, possessing drug paraphernalia, tampering with evidence, property theft, and simple possession.

Most of those arrested are listed as Oak Ridge residents, but there are also residents of Knoxville, Clinton, Kingston, and Madisonville. The defendants range in age from 20-61. [Read more…]