Blackwell to oversee courthouse security

Anderson County Sheriff’s Office Corporal Marty Blackwell, left, is pictured above receiving his new rank with Anderson County General Sessions Court Judge Don Layton. (Submitted photo)

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has promoted Marty Blackwell to the rank of corporal, and he will oversee courthouse security, a press release said.

Blackwell has been in law enforcement for 33 years, the press release said. He most recently served as court officer for General Sessions Judge Don A. Layton.

[Read more…]

For members: Man who tried to shoot deputy sentenced to 25 years

Charles Mason, 54, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and aggravated assault in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, May 24, 2021, for trying to shoot a deputy in April 2019, and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—An Anderson County man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder for trying to shoot a deputy northeast of Oak Ridge in April 2019 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday.

Charles Edward Mason, 54, pleaded guilty to one felony count of attempted first-degree murder and five felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon. He also pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of interfering with a 911 call and one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.

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Charles Mason, 54, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and aggravated assault in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, May 24, 2021, for trying to shoot a deputy in April 2019, and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

CLINTON—An Anderson County man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder for trying to shoot a deputy northeast of Oak Ridge in April 2019 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday.

Charles Edward Mason, 54, pleaded guilty to one felony count of attempted first-degree murder and five felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon. He also pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of interfering with a 911 call and one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.

Charles Mason, 54, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and aggravated assault in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, May 24, 2021, for trying to shoot a deputy in April 2019, and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—An Anderson County man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder for trying to shoot a deputy northeast of Oak Ridge in April 2019 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday.

Charles Edward Mason, 54, pleaded guilty to one felony count of attempted first-degree murder and five felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon. He also pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of interfering with a 911 call and one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.

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For members: Mason sentenced to 28 years for gun, drug charges after allegedly trying to shoot deputy

Charles Mason Preliminary Hearing July 25 2019

An Anderson County man previously convicted of two homicides and charged with attempted murder last year after allegedly trying to shoot a deputy was sentenced to more than 28 years in federal prison on Wednesday on federal gun and drug charges.

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Charles Mason Preliminary Hearing July 25 2019
One count of attempted first-degree murder and five aggravated assault charges filed against Charles Edward Mason, now 53, of Anderson County, were sent to the grand jury after a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on Thursday, July 25, 2019. Mason was sentenced to more than 28 years on federal gun and drug charges in the case in a U.S. District Court hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 1:40 p.m. Dec. 10.

KNOXVILLE—An Anderson County man previously convicted of two homicides and charged with attempted murder last year after allegedly trying to shoot a deputy was sentenced to more than 28 years in federal prison on Wednesday on federal gun and drug charges.

Charles Mason Preliminary Hearing July 25 2019

An Anderson County man previously convicted of two homicides and charged with attempted murder last year after allegedly trying to shoot a deputy was sentenced to more than 28 years in federal prison on Wednesday on federal gun and drug charges.

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For members: Mason found guilty of federal gun, drug charges

Charles Mason Preliminary Hearing July 25 2019
An Anderson County man who has been convicted of two homicides and has been charged in state court with the attempted murder of a deputy was found guilty in federal court on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, of gun and drug crimes that have potential sentences of life in prison. Charles Edward Mason, 52, is pictured above during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on Thursday, July 25, 2019, when one count of attempted first-degree murder and five aggravated assault charges were sent to the Anderson County Grand Jury. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

KNOXVILLE—An Anderson County man who has been convicted of two homicides and has been charged in state court with the attempted murder of a deputy was found guilty in federal court on Friday of gun and drug crimes that have potential sentences of life in prison.

A 12-person jury deliberated for about two hours Friday morning before reaching a unanimous verdict on the four federal charges:

Charles Mason Preliminary Hearing July 25 2019

KNOXVILLE—An Anderson County man who has been convicted of two homicides and has been charged in state court with the attempted murder of a deputy was found guilty in federal court on Friday of gun and drug crimes that have potential sentences of life in prison.

A 12-person jury deliberated for about two hours Friday morning before reaching a unanimous verdict on the four federal charges.

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For members: Man sentenced to 20 years for shooting that injured two

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department investigates a shooting at 3008 Clinton Highway, at the intersection of Clinton Highway and Lonesome Dove Road, on Saturday evening, Jan. 13, 2018. Two people were reported to have non-life threatening injuries. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

CLINTON—An Oak Ridge man received a 20-year prison sentence when he pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of attempted first-degree murder after a shooting that injured two people during an argument in a Clinton Highway home about two years ago.

Jacob Lynn Rutherford, 25, entered the plea agreement in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday morning.

 
Claxton-Shooting-Jan-13-2018

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department investigates a shooting at 3008 Clinton Highway, at the intersection of Clinton Highway and Lonesome Dove Road in Claxton, on Saturday evening, Jan. 13, 2018. Two people were reported to have non-life threatening injuries. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—An Oak Ridge man received a 20-year prison sentence when he pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of attempted first-degree murder after a shooting that injured two people during an argument in a Clinton Highway home about two years ago.

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Woman charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing man

Stephanie Shinlever
Stephanie Shinlever

An Oak Ridge woman was charged with attempted murder after she allegedly stabbed a man in his abdomen, tricep, and thigh on Utica Circle early Friday morning, according to Anderson County court records.

Stephanie Shinlever, 23, was initially charged with attempted criminal homicide and tampering with evidence on Friday. But the attempted criminal homicide charge was amended to attempted first-degree murder on Tuesday, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

The Oak Ridge Police Department responded to a reported assault at a Utica Circle apartment at about 2:12 a.m. Friday. When they arrived, they were led to a unit where the victim, Skylar Patterson, was laying on a couch, bleeding profusely from his abdomen, the affidavits said.

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ACSD: Wife charged with attempted murder said she hoped husband died

Pecola Duncan
Pecola Duncan

A woman charged with attempted murder after a stabbing in Anderson County on Friday evening told deputies that she hoped her husband died, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.

The alleged stabbing was reported on Dutch Valley Road. When ACSD deputies arrived, they found the victim, Harold Duncan, coming out of the home holding a towel on his chest, the Sheriff’s Department said. The towel was soaked with blood, deputies said.

Duncan told ACSD Deputy Kory Blevins that his wife, Pecola Duncan, stabbed him in the chest while he was napping on the recliner.

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For members: Appeals Court upholds first-degree murder conviction in uncle’s death

Norman-Follis-Norman-Follis-Trial-May-10-2016
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Norman Lee Follis Jr., 56, of Anderson County, who killed his uncle, Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, and shoved his body in an apartment closet more than seven years ago. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 2:15 p.m.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of an Anderson County man convicted of killing his uncle and shoving his body into an apartment closet more than seven years ago.

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

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Norman Lee Follis Jr., 56, of Anderson County, who killed his uncle, Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, and shoved his body in an apartment closet more than seven years ago. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of an Anderson County man convicted of killing his uncle and shoving his body into an apartment closet more than seven years ago.

The court upheld the conviction, which led to a lifetime sentence without parole, in a 14-page opinion filed Friday, October 18.

The defendant, Norman Lee Follis Jr., 56, had told a detective that he killed his uncle, Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, after he saw Adams on top of his girlfriend, groping her and refusing to stop. When he tried to pull his uncle off of his girlfriend, Follis said, his uncle turned and attacked him. Follis said Adams had him down on the floor, and he couldn’t get out from under Adams, so he grabbed the first thing he could, a heater cord, and wrapped it around his uncle’s neck until Adams let go.

Prosecutors characterized Follis’ explanation for the killing—the defense of a third party followed by self-defense—as a story that he latched onto and then elaborated upon during an interview with Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Detective Don Scuglia in January 2012. Two hours of taped interviews with Scuglia were “full of lies,” Tony Craighead, deputy district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District, said during the trial in May 2016. Prosecutors called it murder, a premeditated killing that profited Follis and his girlfriend, Tammy Sue Chapman, now 51. They said Follis misled family, neighbors, and law enforcement officers about where Adams was that last month—before his body was found in a Patt Lane apartment closet on January 24, 2012—and they cited testimony that Follis sold Adams’ car for $1,000 cash on January 16, 2012.

In his appeal, which was filed last year, Follis argued that the state had failed to prove premeditation and didn’t show that a deadly weapon was used. He said prosecutors didn’t have a declaration of his intent to kill Adams.

But the state and appeals court disagreed, saying premeditation was established by Follis’ actions during and after his uncle’s death. Among other factors, those actions included placing the electrical heater cord around Adams’ neck and using it as a deadly weapon, hiding the body in a closet and pushing a couch in front of the closet door to conceal it, and using his uncle’s car after his death.

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Child accidentally shot in face by sibling in AC

A four-year-old child was accidentally shot in the face by a nine-year-old sibling on Offut Spur Road on Sunday night, law enforcement officers said.

The four-year-old did not have life-threatening injuries and, as of Monday, would not require surgery, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said.

A University of Tennessee Lifestar helicopter landed at Lake City Middle School after the accidental shooting on Sunday and flew the child to the hospital.

[Read more…]