Anthony Craighead Archives - Oak Ridge Today

Lead trial court prosecutor retires

Posted at 5:48 pm January 9, 2023
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

*Pictured above are Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark, left, and Deputy District Attorney General Anthony Craighead. (Photo courtesy Dave Clark)*

Anthony Craighead, deputy district attorney general in Anderson County, has retired.

“This week marks the well-deserved but bittersweet retirement of my friend and crime fighting partner, Deputy District Attorney General Tony Craighead,” Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark said on Saturday. “Tony has been fighting for justice and victims for 30 years in Tennessee, and for the last eight years, he has been our leading trial court prosecutor here in Anderson County.

“The job of being a chief law enforcement officer for a portion of our state is a great privilege and an awesome responsibility. The pressure, emotional, physical and psychological burden of the responsibility for resolving the homicides, child abuse, home burglaries and child pornography cases collectively wear on one’s soul. Tony has carried that load for all of us for a long time.”

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Man sentenced to 11 years for attempted rape with knife

Posted at 11:51 am December 17, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A 42-year-old man was sentenced to 11 years on Monday after being convicted of attempted aggravated rape in Anderson County during a jury trial in June.

It was the same sentence the prosecution had asked for, with the time to be served in prison.

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Court defers decision on separate trials for Finnegan, Dishman

Posted at 12:00 pm December 2, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

*A motion hearing is pictured above for Sean Shannon Finnegan and Rebecca Elizabeth Dishman* *in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)*

Note: This story contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

A decision was deferred Thursday about whether to separate the trials of a man and woman charged in a gruesome rape and murder case in Oak Ridge three years ago.

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Two face death penalty in murder, kidnapping, rape case

Posted at 4:30 pm January 10, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Sean Finnegan, one of two defendants in a series of gruesome alleged crimes in Oak Ridge in December 2019, including murder, sex crimes, and kidnapping, is pictured above in a mugshot from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

An Oak Ridge man and woman face the death penalty after allegedly kidnapping, raping, torturing, and murdering a 36-year-old woman, and mutilating her body and putting it into a freezer in December 2019.

Dave Clark, Seventh Judicial District attorney general, announced the death penalty decision on Monday.

Oak Ridge Today has previously reported that a decision was expected this month in the criminal case against Sean Shannon Finnegan, 54, and Rebecca Elizabeth Dishman, 23. They have both been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the strangling death of Jennifer Gail Paxton and 10 other charges, including aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence.

In a press release, Clark said a district attorney general can seek the death penalty only in certain first-degree murder cases “when one or more factors established by state law are alleged to exist.” Then, it is up to the DA to decide whether to ask the court to impose the death penalty. That decision has now been made, Clark said.

Here are the factors in this case that make the death penalty applicable, according to Clark:

The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel “in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse beyond what was necessary to produce death.”
It was committed to avoid being arrested and prosecuted for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape.
It was committed during an aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape.
Finnegan and Dishman mutilated Paxton’s body after she died.

Since the state is now seeking the death penalty, special procedures will apply in the court case. These include the appointment of an attorney qualified in death-penalty cases and the right to a second attorney for Finnegan and Dishman.

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Sean Finnegan, one of two defendants charged in a series of gruesome alleged crimes in Oak Ridge in December 2019, including murder, rape, and kidnapping, is pictured above in a mugshot from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Note: This story was last updated at 6 p.m.

Dave Clark, Seventh Judicial District attorney general, announced the death penalty decision on Monday.

Here are the factors in this case that make the death penalty applicable, according to Clark:

The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel “in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse beyond what was necessary to produce death.”
It was committed to avoid being arrested and prosecuted for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape.
It was committed during an aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape.
Finnegan and Dishman mutilated Paxton’s body after she died.

The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.

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Lee Harold Cromwell (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Lee Harold Cromwell, who was convicted of homicide and aggravated assault after a fatal crash after fireworks three years ago, is eligible for a new trial on the aggravated assault charges, a state appeals court said Tuesday.

After reviewing several issues raised on appeal, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in Knoxville upheld Cromwell’s one conviction of reckless vehicular homicide and his five-year sentence on that charge.

But citing misleading and confusing jury instructions, the court ordered a new trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on the eight convictions of reckless aggravated assault. Those convictions, which were reversed by the appeals court on Tuesday, had helped to add seven years to Cromwell’s sentence.

“After our review, we affirm the evidence was sufficient to support the defendant’s convictions and the trial court properly sentenced the defendant, but (we) conclude the trial court committed reversible error in instructing the jury as to reckless aggravated assault,” the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals said. “Therefore, we vacate the defendant’s eight convictions for reckless aggravated assault and remand this case to the trial court for a new trial.”

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