Oak Ridge Today

Lead trial court prosecutor retires

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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 one year, 9 months for fatal hit-and-run 

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Dannon Cole pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving a death or injury in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022.

Note: This story was updated at 1 p.m. Dec. 13.

CLINTON—A 51-year-old man was sentenced to one year and nine months when pleading guilty Monday to a fatal hit-and-run crash between a pickup truck and motorized bicycle in Clinton about one year ago.

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TBI: Man fatally shoots woman, denies aid

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Nathan Newport

A 60-year-old Oliver Springs man allegedly killed a 52-year-old woman with a shotgun Monday morning and, during a police standoff, refused to let officers give her medical aid, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The man, Nathan Newport, 60, has been charged with criminal homicide—first-degree murder. He is alleged to have killed Janice Newport, 52, in a home in Oliver Springs at about 6:30 a.m. Monday.

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TBI investigating man’s death

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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death of a 39-year-old man during an interaction with Oak Ridge police officers in the Hendrix Creek subdivision on Sunday afternoon.

Oak Ridge Police Department officers had made contact with the man, Tyler Jones, after receiving a report of a suspicious person around Heritage Drive, the TBI said. He began showing signs of distress, and medical personnel were called.

“At some point during the encounter, after medical personnel arrived, Jones became unresponsive,” the TBI said. “Officers immediately rendered aid until paramedics arrived. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.”

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Rocky Top woman pleads guilty to murder, sentenced to life

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Christy Viola Comer, left, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, listens to testimony during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. At right is defense attorney Leslie Hunt. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

An Anderson County woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in the death of J.C. Copeland, an 83-year-old Rocky Top man, and she was sentenced to life in prison plus an extra 20 years.

Christy Viola Comer, 41, entered the guilty plea in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday afternoon.

Christy Viola Comer, left, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, listens to testimony during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. At right is defense attorney Leslie Hunt. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

An Anderson County woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in the death of J.C. Copeland, an 83-year-old Rocky Top man, and she was sentenced to life in prison plus an extra 20 years.

Christy Viola Comer, 41, entered the guilty plea in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday afternoon.

Comer had planned to rob Copeland, who was described as a “sweet old man,” because “it would be easy,” according to testimony during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton in January 2019.

Comer traded some of the property stolen from Copeland’s home, a digital video disc player, for a $10 bag of methamphetamine, according to court testimony by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent John Hannon.

Copeland’s body was found partially wrapped in a pink blanket underneath a porch at a mobile home on Jacksboro Avenue in Rocky Top on August 31, 2018, Hannon said. Copeland is believed to have been strangled until he died, according to court records. There was white rope around his neck and other parts of his body, including his wrists and ankles, Hannon testified during the preliminary hearing.

“In the overnight hours of August 30, 2018, Christy Comer made the decision to rob him (Copeland) to get money for methamphetamine,” Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a press release Tuesday.

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Secret City Academy student charged with terrorism after alleged shooting, bomb threats

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A Secret City Academy student was charged with terrorism and other crimes after allegedly threatening to shoot people and use a bomb at the school on Friday, Anderson County’s district attorney general said. This is the fourth student charged with similar crimes in three incidents this school year.

Seventh Judicial District DA Dave Clark said the alleged oral threat by the juvenile briefly caused restrictions on movements within the school. The Secret City Academy is on the Oak Ridge High School campus.

“Nobody was hurt, and no firearm or explosive device was involved,” Clark said in a press release.

The alleged threats were investigated by the Oak Ridge Police Department, Oak Ridge Schools, Anderson County Juvenile Court, and the DA’s office.

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Former AC school employees charged with theft

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Two former Anderson County Schools employees have been charged with stealing more than $10,000 in a two-year period between January 2018 and January 2020.

Heather Dawn Heatherly, 44, of Jacksboro, and Stephanie Leann Jenkins, 43, of Powell, were indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury on a single felony count of theft or more than $10,000 but less than $60,000 on February 1.

“The investigation was initiated by a complaint from a merchant that was concerned about the types of purchases being made with a government account,” said Dave Clark, Seventh Judicial District attorney general in Anderson County. “The Anderson County Schools promptly reported the matter to the Sheriff’s Department and suspended the employees.”

The lengthy investigation that followed included the ACSO, Anderson County Schools, Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, and the District Attorney General’s Office.

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Passenger dies after THP pursuit

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The passenger has died after a two-vehicle crash during a police pursuit in Anderson County on Sunday, January 30.

It’s the second death after the police chase and fatal crash near the intersection of Mountain Road and Highway 441 at about 2 p.m. that Sunday. The driver, Elijah Morley of Dandridge, died after the crash.

On Wednesday, Dave Clark, Seventh Judicial District attorney general, said Morley’s passenger, Dustin Dienst of Morristown, died Tuesday night. He had been hospitalized since the crash.

A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper, Austin Dean, was also injured in the crash. Clark said earlier that Dean was treated and released from a hospital.

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Woman charged with murder in husband’s death after 7 years

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Samantha Hendley

The wife of Thomas Steven “T.S.” Thrasher has been charged with first-degree murder after his death in 2014, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Samantha Anne Hendley, 35, of Harriman, was indicted last week by the Anderson County Grand Jury, and she was arrested and booked into the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Monday morning, the TBI said. Her bond has been set at $1 million.

The indictment and arrest followed seven years of casework by TBI special agents, the agency said.

Thrasher, 29, was shot and killed inside his home at Rolling Hills Apartments on December 8, 2014.

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Driver identified in fatal AC crash

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The driver who died has been identified after a police pursuit and fatal crash in Anderson County on Sunday.

The identity of the driver and two other people injured in the two-vehicle crash were initially withheld after the crash at Mountain Road and Highway 441 at about 2 p.m. Sunday.

On Saturday, Dave Clark, district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District in Anderson County, said the medical examiner had completed the identification of the driver who died and notified family members.

The driver has been identified as Elijah Morley of Dandridge and the passenger who was injured in that vehicle was identified as Dustin Dienst of Morristown, Clark said.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper who was injured in the crash was Austin Dean, Clark said.

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One dies, trooper injured after AC crash

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A driver died and a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper was injured after a crash in Anderson County on Sunday.

The THP was pursuing a vehicle with two people inside at about 2 p.m. Sunday, according to Dave Clark, district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District in Anderson County.

The pursuit continued along several roads before the vehicle being chased and the THP cruiser left the roadway and crashed near the intersection of Mountain Road and Highway 441, Clark said.

The driver of the vehicle being chased died, and a passenger in that vehicle was injured and was taken to a hospital, Clark said. The trooper was also injured and was treated and released from a hospital, Clark said.

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Two face death penalty in murder, kidnapping, rape case

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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.

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.

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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Oak Ridge Today

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Oak Ridge, TN 37831

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