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Tennessee Supreme Court will not hear Cromwell’s appeal

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Oak Ridge resident Lee Harold Cromwell, 68, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on 28 counts of forgery and filling fraudulent liens during a hearing in Nashville criminal court on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Tennessee Supreme Court will not hear an appeal of a criminal case filed against Lee Harold Cromwell, who is now 69 and was convicted of reckless vehicular homicide in Anderson County Criminal Court two years ago after a fatal crash after fireworks in Oak Ridge in 2015. Cromwell is pictured above during a hearing in a Nashville criminal court on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, when he was sentenced to 25 years in prison in a separate case involving 28 counts of forgery and filling fraudulent liens. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Supreme Court will not hear an appeal of the criminal case filed against Lee Harold Cromwell, who was convicted of homicide after a fatal crash after fireworks in Oak Ridge in 2015.

Cromwell, who is now 69, had been convicted of reckless vehicular homicide and aggravated assault in Anderson County Criminal Court at the end of a three-day trial in February 2017.

But in July 2018, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in Knoxville said Cromwell is eligible for a new trial on the aggravated assault charges. The court cited misleading and confusing jury instructions. The aggravated assault convictions, which were reversed by the appeals court, had helped to add seven years to Cromwell’s sentence.

The court upheld Cromwell’s one conviction of reckless vehicular homicide and his five-year sentence on that charge.

In August, Cromwell appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court. [Read more…]

Man charged with aggravated child abuse

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Brady Hutton

Brady Hutton

 

The Anderson County Grand Jury has indicted Brady Daniel Hutton, 27, on charges of aggravated child abuse and neglect after a child who is less than eight years old was reported to have had serious injuries.

Hutton was arrested at his work last week by the United States Marshals Service and taken to the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, a press release said.

Before his arrest, the Sheriff’s Department had received a referral from the Department of Children’s Services on October 24 about a severe child abuse complaint they received from the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital staff in Knoxville, the press release said. At the hospital, Hutton was interviewed by DCS and ACSD Detective Darrell Slater, and it was determined there was enough probable cause to present the case to a grand jury, the press release said. [Read more…]

(For members) Five ORPD officers injured in fight with defendant

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Oak Ridge Police Department Badge

Five Oak Ridge Police Department officers were injured in a fight with a defendant on Saturday, a man was held against his will by the defendant, and officers used a Taser on the defendant more than once, police said.

The 39-year-old defendant is now charged with five counts of aggravated assault on an officer and aggravated kidnapping, among other charges.

It’s not the first time the man has been accused of assaulting a police officer. In September, he pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer in a previous case.

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Homicide case ends when defendant dies

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Christy-Duncan-Memorial-Oak-Ridge-Turnpike-May-10-2016

A vehicular homicide case that started with a fatal traffic crash at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Jefferson Avenue in May 2016 ended when the defendant, Vickie Gay Gilmore, died in 2018. A memorial to Christy Duncan, the woman who died in the three-vehicle crash, was set up on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A vehicular homicide case that started with a fatal traffic crash in Oak Ridge ended when the defendant died.

The case against Vickie Gay Gilmore, 64, had been pending in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. In July, another evaluation was ordered at the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute in Chattanooga. Gilmore was to be evaluated for her competency to stand trial and her mental condition at the time of the crime (the insanity defense). She had been found to be capable of adequately helping in her defense in an earlier evaluation at Moccasin Bend in 2016, but a later evaluation by a doctor produced contrary findings, according to an April 2018 order for a new competency evaluation.

The new evaluation order in July was stayed, or delayed, in September because of Gilmore’s deteriorating health and her inability to travel.

The charges against her were dismissed in a judgement dated October 9 and filed in November. [Read more…]

Updated: Woman charged with homicide in child’s death after crash

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Oak Ridge Police Department officers started a memorial with stuffed animals for a child killed in a fatal two-vehicle crash at Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive on Friday evening, Jan. 13, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 7 p.m.

A second person has been charged with homicide in the death of a young boy in a traffic crash in Oak Ridge in January 2017.

Jason Robert Braden III, 3, died in the two-vehicle crash, which injured at least three other people and was considered a mass casualty event. It was reported at about 5:20 p.m. Friday, January 13, 2017, at the intersection of Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive.

In March 2018, Oak Ridge Today reported that an Anderson County man, Jason Robert Braden II, 25, had been charged, after the crash, in an 11-count indictment that included vehicular homicide by intoxication. The other charges against Braden included vehicular homicide by recklessness, four counts of reckless aggravated assault, reckless endangerment when a deadly weapon (a motor vehicle) is involved, driving under the influence, driving without a license, speeding, and violation of the child restraint law.

That case is still pending in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. The homicide and assault charges are felonies, while the driving offenses are misdemeanors.

The second person, Ashley Marie Ann Braden, 23, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury in Clinton on December 4. She was charged with a single felony count of criminally negligent homicide. The indictment alleged that Braden engaged in criminally negligent conduct that resulted in the death of Jason Robert Braden III. The indictment does not elaborate on the alleged facts of the case, which is typical for indictments. [Read more…]

Records: Man shot last week has history of family disputes

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A 61-year-old Clinton man was injured in a shooting on Lee Lane on Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 26, 2018, police said, after he reportedly came on to his son’s property with a loaded gun and fired several shots toward the house, reportedly over the positioning of a floodlight. The son exited his home and returned fire, striking his father once in the buttocks, police said. Police found the man on the ground in front of his home, pictured above. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Clinton man who was shot during a dispute with his son last week, reportedly over the positioning of a floodlight, has had other disputes with family members, including another one involving a firearm, according to Anderson County court records.

In one of the previous cases, the man who was shot, Terry Lee Crawford, 61, allegedly vandalized his sister’s house with a tractor in October, also because of a floodlight, the court records said. That case is pending in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

Before the alleged vandalism this year, Crawford had pleaded guilty to an assault against his sister and another victim in 2015—that case involved a firearm—and to an attempted assault against his son in 2016.

The incidents have involved three homes plus Crawford’s, all on Lee Lane in west Clinton, court records said.

Besides those cases, there is an indictment pending against Crawford for driving under the influence, reckless endangerment, and reckless driving.

It’s not clear what charges might be filed after last week’s shooting. Crawford was taken to the hospital after the shooting. He was booked into the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Monday. But affidavits, which include specific charges and brief descriptions of alleged crimes, were not available on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the day after the shooting, the district attorney general’s office called Crawford a “danger to society” and asked that his bond be revoked or increased in two of the previous cases. The motion appears to have been successful, at least for now; Crawford’s bond has been set at $1.7 million, an unusually large bond, and he remained in custody on Tuesday night, according to Anderson County jail records.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today. 

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Man sentenced to 30 years in Oak Ridge shooting

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William Antwon Mollette

William Antwon Mollette

Note: This story was last updated at 4:45 p.m.

CLINTON—An Oak Ridge man was sentenced to the maximum 30 years in prison in an attempted murder case as part of a plea agreement on Thursday after a shooting last year left a woman with life-threatening injuries.

William Antwon Mollette, 44, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and possession of a firearm during a dangerous felony in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Thursday.

Mollette, who has a prior felony conviction in Alabama, received the maximum 25 years on the attempted first-degree murder charge, a Class A felony, and he received the maximum five years on the firearm possession charge, a Class D felony. The two sentences are to be served consecutively for a total 30-year sentence.

The victim of the shooting, Cathy Griffin, was agreeable to the 30-year sentence, Tony Craighead, deputy district attorney general in Anderson County, told Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge.

Griffin read a statement in court during the plea agreement hearing. She described being shot and stalked by Mollette at a home on Walsh Lane last year, having her lungs collapse and blood stream from her abdomen, and knowing that she, a nurse, was dying. [Read more…]

Man pleads guilty to reckless homicide in death of father after argument

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William Brent James

A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty Tuesday to reckless homicide in the death of his father after an argument in an Oak Ridge parking lot in 2014.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today. 

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Roane County man charged with stealing more than $250,000

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Malbern Robert Edington

Malbern Robert Edington

 

A Roane County man has been charged with the theft of more than $250,000 and knowing abuse, neglect, or exploitation, according to Anderson County court records.

Malbern Robert Edington, 37, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury in Clinton on August 7. He has an arraignment scheduled for Friday in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.

Edington, who lives in Roane County north of Oak Ridge, was arrested August 24 by John Thomas of the Oak Ridge Police Department. He remained jailed at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Thursday night. His bond has been set at $100,000. [Read more…]

Woman sentenced to eight years after drugs discarded during police chase

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Clarissa Sharee Tindell

Clarissa Sharee Tindell

 

A Knoxville woman who fled from the Tennessee Highway Patrol in a car in Anderson County last year as methamphetamine and heroin were discarded from the moving vehicle pleaded guilty to four charges and was sentenced to eight years in prison on Tuesday.

About 60 grams of methamphetamine and less than a gram of heroin were thrown out of a car window and two patrol vehicles were hit during the police chase, which started in Clinton and ended in Rocky Top on Sunday, July 30, 2017, according to court proceedings and affidavits.

The plea agreement hearing for the driver of the 1992 Honda Accord, Clarissa Sharee Tindell, 25, was Tuesday in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. Her plea was by information, meaning she entered a plea before she was formally charged in an indictment by the Anderson County Grand Jury. Early pleas can lead to agreements more favorable to defendants.

Tindell, who was represented by defense attorney Paul Sexton of Oak Ridge, had been charged earlier in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton in a case that included additional counts such as aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during a felony, speeding (117 mph in a 45 mph zone), and failure to yield the right of way, among other charges. Those charges were waived to the Grand Jury on June 6. [Read more…]

Knoxville man pleads guilty to reckless homicide after boy drowns

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James R. Baysinger

James R. Baysinger

 

CLINTON—A Knoxville man pleaded guilty to reckless homicide on Friday in the death of a five-year-old boy in Anderson County about three years ago. The child was reported to have drowned after being reported missing.

James R. Baysinger, 63, pleaded guilty to the single count of reckless homicide in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Friday afternoon. As part of the plea deal, the state will not prosecute a second charge, aggravated child abuse or neglect when the victim, Odin Elwood Fitton, was less than eight years old.

Baysinger has a sentencing hearing scheduled for November 27.

There was no allegation in court on Friday that Baysinger intended to injure or kill Odin. Instead, the boy’s death was alleged to have resulted from recklessness.

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Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories. Many of these stories require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

Woman sentenced to 10 years, $50,000 restitution on meth charges

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Kimberly Hughes Welch

Kimberly Hughes Welch

 

CLINTON—A Knoxville woman received a 10-year sentence and was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution after pleading guilty Friday to a methamphetamine manufacturing charge following a raid at an apartment in Oak Ridge two years ago.

The meth lab raid occurred at an apartment on Tusculum Drive in central Oak Ridge on March 30, 2016. Agents found an active meth lab and items used to make meth, according to a property forfeiture affidavit filed by Russell Barker, who was director of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County. The raid followed an undercover or covert narcotics investigation into the distribution of methamphetamine.

Kimberly Hughes Welch, 51, pleaded guilty to four charges related to the raid in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Friday. Three are felonies, and one is a misdemeanor. [Read more…]

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