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Oak Ridge man convicted of attempted murder

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McKinley Earl McGee

An Oak Ridge man who had been accused of stabbing his girlfriend and trying to kill her last year was convicted of attempted murder this week.

McKinley Earl McGee, 50, was convicted after a jury trial that started Tuesday morning in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark announced the conviction in a press release on Wednesday. The 12-person jury deliberated about 58 minutes before returning with its verdict, Clark said.

McGee was convicted of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and aggravated assault with serious bodily injury, Clark said.

McGee was convicted of stabbing and trying to kill Machel Elaine Avery on Utica Circle in Oak Ridge on January 12, 2018, Clark said.

[Read more…]

Clinton man charged with attempted murder

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Terry Lee Crawford

The Clinton man who allegedly shot at two people before one of them, his son, shot back, has been charged with attempted murder, according to court records.

The Anderson County Grand Jury indicted Terry Lee Crawford, 62, on two counts of attempted second-degree murder on June 4. Those charges allege that Crawford tried to kill Joshua Crawford and Ashlee Crawford. The alleged shooting was reported at a home adjacent to Crawford’s on Lee Lane in Clinton on December 26.

Crawford was also charged with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of reckless endangerment. The aggravated assault charges allege that Crawford caused Joshua and Ashlee Crawford to fear imminent bodily injury because of the gun, and the reckless endangerment charges allege that Terry Crawford engaged in reckless conduct that placed Joshua and Ashlee Crawford in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury through the use of a deadly weapon.

Crawford faces two other charges as well: being a convicted felon who possessed a handgun and vandalism between $1,000 and $2,500. The vandalism charge alleges that Crawford damaged the exterior of Joshua and Ashlee Crawford’s home, causing more than $1,000 in damage.

[Read more…]

(For members) Man sentenced to 35 years in assaults against women

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Jason Bradley Braden

 

CLINTON—A Clinton man was sentenced to 35 years in prison when he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to attempted second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated assault in a series of assaults that involved four female victims in three cases.

One of the victims, a grandmother in her 70s, was hit in the face with a crowbar and had a fractured skull and teeth knocked out, according to facts cited in Anderson County Criminal Court during the plea agreement hearing in Clinton on Wednesday.

The defendant, Jason Bradley Braden, 30, was ordered to serve 100 percent of his 35-year sentence.

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Oak Ridge man charged with attempted murder

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McKinley Earl McGee

McKinley Earl McGee

 

An Oak Ridge man has ben charged with attempted murder after he allegedly stabbed a woman in the torso with a knife during a dispute over money in January, according to Anderson County court records.

McKinley Earl McGee, 49, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury in Clinton on May 1. His charges include attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and aggravated assault that resulted in serious bodily injury.

McGee has an arraignment scheduled for June 25 in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.

The alleged stabbing occurred in an apartment on Utica Circle in Oak Ridge on January 12, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court by Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Chris Wallace. [Read more…]

Man charged with attempted murder

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Jeremy Jon Bessette

Jeremy Jon Bessette

 

One Oak Ridge man was beaten in the head with a wrench on Thursday after a social media conversation, and another was charged with attempted murder after an alleged assault on South Walker Lane.

The victim, Andrew Steelman, had been talking to someone on social media that he thought was the girlfriend of Jeremy Jon Bessette, 40, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

But it turned out that Steelman was not talking to Bessette’s girlfriend, but rather to Bessette, who was posing online as his girlfriend while Steelman “flirted with her,” the affidavits said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department first learned of the incident when they were notified of a physical disturbance on South Walker Lane at 1:53 p.m. Thursday. There, a witness said a man, later identified as Bessette, entered the home and began hitting another man in the head with what appeared to be a wrench, according to the affidavits, which were filed by ORPD Officer Perry Lewis.

The alleged assailant then got into a dark-colored Pontiac and fled, the affidavits said. [Read more…]

Two hit in arms during Claxton shooting

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Jacob Lynn Rutherford

Jacob Lynn Rutherford

 

CLAXTON—Two men were hit in the arms during the shooting in Claxton on Saturday evening, January 13, and the Oak Ridge man charged with attempted murder in the case also shot at a woman but missed, according to court records.

The shooting at the home at the intersection of Clinton Highway and Lonesome Dove Road allegedly occurred “during some type of altercation” in a bedroom, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

Jacob Lynn Rutherford, 23, of Oak Ridge, has been charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of reckless endangerment in the shooting.

The affidavits, which summarize the alleged facts of the case and are attached to arrest warrants, said Rutherford pulled a handgun from his waistband during the altercation, pointed it at Nathan Phillips, 36, and fired. Phillips had two gunshot wounds to his left upper arm, the affidavits said. [Read more…]

Attempted murder charge dismissed, woman pleads guilty to aggravated assault

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Treasure Sheitel Threat

Treasure Sheitel Threat

An attempted murder charge was dismissed, and an Oak Ridge woman pleaded guilty to aggravated assault this month.

Treasure Sheitel Threat, 30, had been indicted on charges of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in October 2013. She was accused of stabbing Kingston resident Stanley Wallace in the stomach in his car at the intersection of Robin Lane and Raleigh Road on July 27, 2012, after an argument in Grove Center.

Arrest warrants filed in 2012 said another woman had summoned Threat to Grove Center, but she forgot that Wallace and Threat didn’t like each other. [Read more…]

Attempted second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping charges dismissed

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Jacob Lynn Rutherford

Jacob Lynn Rutherford

Four charges against an Oak Ridge man that included attempted second-degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping were dismissed in July after a victim or state witness failed to appear, according to court records and court officials.

Jacob Lynn Rutherford, 22, had also been charged with aggravated assault and assault. Those charges were also dismissed.

Rutherford had been charged in two separate alleged assaults this year, one on February 25 and another on April 28. Police responded to both alleged assaults at 101 Locust Lane, where Rutherford lives.

Rutherford allegedly used a metal rod in one of the beatings, authorities said, and he was also accused of hitting the woman in the head with a gun and forcing her into his vehicle at gunpoint, according to arrest warrants.

The charges were dismissed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on July 26, when a state witness or victim did not appear. Judgements on the aggravated assault and especially aggravated kidnapping charges said the victim failed to appear. That’s the same victim as in the attempted second-degree murder charge. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge man accused of assaulting two women, one with metal rod

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Jacob Lynn Rutherford

Jacob Lynn Rutherford

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:15 a.m. April 30.

An Oak Ridge man is accused of assaulting two women in two separate incidents, and he allegedly used a metal rod in one of the beatings, authorities said. Jacob Lynn Rutherford, 21, is also accused of hitting one of the women in the head with a gun and forcing her into his vehicle at gunpoint, according to arrest warrants.

Rutherford has been charged with attempted second-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, and assault, according to the warrants, which were filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

The first alleged assault occurred on February 25 and the second on April 28, the warrants said. Police responded to both alleged assaults at 101 Locust Lane, where Rutherford lives.

In the first case, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Kenneth Prickett said the victim, a Powell woman, showed signs of bruising around her right eye and blood around her nose.

“(She) also showed bruising around her right wrist and swelling in her right hand,” Prickett said in an arrest warrant. [Read more…]

TBI: Morgan Co. woman charged with attempted murder in husband’s shooting

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Jennifer Darlene Smith

Jennifer Darlene Smith

A Morgan County woman has been charged with attempted murder in the alleged shooting of her husband on Friday, authorities said.

Jennifer Darlene Smith, 39, faces one count of attempted second-degree murder, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. She was being held in the Morgan County Jail on Saturday morning, and her bond has been set at $100,000, the TBI said.

The alleged shooting occurred shortly after 5 p.m. Friday at the family’s home on Morgan County Highway in Sunbright, the TBI said. When authorities responded, they found 61-year-old Leroy James Smith Jr. suffering from a gunshot wound, the TBI said in a press release. [Read more…]

Charges upgraded in Roane shooting

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Jeremy Alexander Gambrell

Jeremy Alexander Gambrell

Information from WYSH Radio

The former police officer accused of shooting his ex-wife Saturday, March 21, has had the charges against him upgraded from aggravated assault to attempted second-degree murder, according to Roane County District Attorney General Russell Johnson’s office.

Jeremy Alexander Gambrell, who goes by “Alex,” will still face an aggravated assault charge in connection to him allegedly firing a gun at a second person at his ex-wife Jenny Gambrell’s home. That person was not struck by the gunfire, but Jenny Gambrell was hit several times and, as of last week, was recovering in the hospital.

Alex Gambrell—a 41-year-old former Lenoir City and Tennessee Valley Authority police officer—remains in custody on a $50,000 bond, but that amount is expected to increase following his arraignment on the upgraded charge.

Two of three plotters plead guilty in murder attempt

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Information from WYSH Radio

Two people accused of conspiring to kill an elderly man pleaded guilty in an Anderson County courtroom on Monday.

David Lee Suddeth, 44, and Dorothy Roxanne McFarland, 53, both pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, attempted aggravated arson, attempted aggravated kidnapping, and theft under $500. In exchange for those pleas, each was sentenced to nine years behind bars.

A third person, the alleged mastermind of the plot, 50-year-old Randolph Lane, is expected to enter a plea in this case on Wednesday. The trio was accused of plotting to kill then-73-year-old Luther Byrge—with whom they were all living—in January of 2012. Their plan was to lock Byrge inside his bedroom, disable the smoke detector, cut the phone lines, and set his house on fire while he was inside. The plan almost worked too, as the phone and smoke detector were disabled and Byrge was locked in his room, but according to testimony in court, the plan ultimately failed when the gasoline that was ignited under a bathroom sink melted the pipes and extinguished the fire. [Read more…]

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