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Death penalty forum set for Sunday

Posted at 11:28 pm October 20, 2020
By Carolyn H Krause Leave a Comment

Sabrina Butler Smith

A virtual community forum on “Race, Wrongful Conviction, and the Death Penalty” will be held at 4 p.m., Sunday, October 25.

A focus will be on the planned execution of Pervis Payne, scheduled for December 3 in Nashville. He is a Black man with an intellectual disability and son of a highly respected pastor, a press release said.

The speakers will be Rolanda Holman, Payne’s sister, who will describe the circumstances surrounding his case and the push for DNA testing and commutation of his sentence; Sabrina Butler Smith, exoneree from Mississippi’s death row and Memphis resident, who will connect issues from her case to those in Payne’s case and the broader realities of racial injustice inherent in the death penalty; and the Reverend Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, who will reflect on current issues raised by the death penalty, particularly as they relate to race and wrongful conviction, the press release said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Front Page News, Government Tagged With: death penalty, death penalty forum, Equal Justice Initiative, Pervis Payne, race, Rolanda Holman, Sabrina Butler Smith, Stacy Rector, Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Judge denies motion to reduce bond for Dishman, who could face death penalty

Posted at 3:03 pm August 18, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Rebecca Dishman, one of two defendants in a series of gruesome alleged crimes, including murder, sex crimes, and kidnapping, is pictured above in a mugshot from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Note: This story was last updated at 11:45 p.m.

An Anderson County judge on Tuesday denied a motion to reduce the $1 million bond for Rebecca Dishman, and a prosecutor said the state could consider the death penalty in the “especially heinous” murder.

Dishman, 22, is one of two defendants charged with murder, sex crimes, kidnapping, and abuse of a corpse in a series of gruesome crimes allegedly committed against Jennifer Gail Paxton, 36, of Knoxville, in a home in east Oak Ridge sometime between December and August.

Dishman had a hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on Tuesday afternoon. She was represented by defense attorney Paul Sexton.

Sexton said Dishman waived her right to be in court, and she did not appear to hear the discussion of her case. On Dishman’s behalf, Sexton asked Anderson County General Sessions Court Judge Roger Miller to reduce her bond.

“She’s a woman of limited means,” Sexton said, and there is no way she can afford to be released on bond.

Under the law, Dishman is entitled to a reasonable bond, Sexton said.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Courts, Courts, Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: abuse of a corpse, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, Anderson County General Sessions Court, Brian Gilliam, Dave Clark, death penalty, first-degree murder, Jennifer Gail Paxton, Marvell Moore, murder, Oak Ridge Police Department, Rebecca Dishman, Roger Miller, Sean Finnegan

DA: Granddaughter in murder case was malnourished, smothered

Posted at 10:24 am May 14, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Valerie Stenson

The young granddaughter who died in Oak Ridge in 2011 was malnourished and had been smothered, District Attorney General Dave Clark said Friday, after the child’s grandmother pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last Tuesday.

Emergency workers and law enforcement officers responded to a 911 call at Teller Village Apartments around 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 11, 2011. The grandmother, Valerie Stenson, now 54, was trying to revive her granddaughter, Manhattan Inman, using cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, Clark said in a press release Friday.

“An autopsy reveled that the child was malnourished, and the cause of death was smothering,” said Clark, who is DA in the Seventh Judicial District (Anderson County).

Manhattan was two years and nine months old when she died, Clark said.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Courts, Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire Tagged With: aggravated child abuse, Alexander Brown, Anderson County Criminal Court, child abuse, Dave Clark, death penalty, district attorney general, Donald R. Elledge, first-degree murder, Manhattan Inman, Oak Ridge Police Department, plea deal, second-degree murder, Seventh Judicial District, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Thomas Slaughter, Tony Craighead, Valerie Stenson

Grandmother sentenced to 30 years in murder plea deal

Posted at 7:29 pm May 7, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Valerie Stenson

A grandmother pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in the death of her young granddaughter in Oak Ridge eight years ago, and she was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Valerie Stenson, 54, who has an address listed in Knoxville, was ordered to serve 100 percent of her sentence.

Stenson had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of her granddaughter, Manhattan Inman, who was 18 months old when she was found dead in a home on Teller Village Lane on April 17, 2011.

The first-degree murder charge was reduced to second-degree murder as part of the plea deal entered in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday.

Prosecutors had once sought the death penalty against Stenson, but it was withdrawn in March 2018. Prosecutors cited mental health issues, expense, and the strain put on the local court system in death penalty cases.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Courts, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: aggravated child abuse, aggravated child abuse and neglect, aggravated child abuse or neglect, aggravated child endangerment, aggravated child neglect, Anderson County Criminal Court, death penalty, Donald R. Elledge, first-degree murder, Manhattan Inman, plea deal, second-degree murder, Seventh Judicial District, Thomas Slaughter, Valerie Stenson

Prosecutors withdraw death penalty in grandmother’s murder case

Posted at 9:55 am July 26, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Valerie Stenson

Valerie Stenson

Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against an Oak Ridge grandmother charged with first-degree murder in the death of her toddler granddaughter seven years ago.

Announcing the decision, prosecutors cited mental health issues, expense, and the strain put on the local court system in death penalty cases.

The state filed a withdrawal notice, announcing it would not seek the death penalty, in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on March 16. The withdrawal notice has not been previously reported. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Courts, Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: aggravated child abuse, aggravated child endangerment, aggravated child neglect, Anderson County Criminal Court, Anderson County grand jury, competency to stand trial, Dave Clark, death penalty, death penalty case, death penalty notice, Donald R. Elledge, first-degree murder, grandmother's murder case, insanity defense, Manhattan Inman, Mart Cizek, mental health evaluation, Norman Lee Follis Jr., psychiatric evaluation, Seventh Judicial District, Thomas Slaughter, Valerie Stenson

Grandmother’s murder trial has been canceled, mental health evaluation ordered

Posted at 10:54 pm November 2, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Valerie Stenson

Valerie Stenson

 

CLINTON—Scheduled for December, the murder trial of an Oak Ridge grandmother who is facing the death penalty has been canceled, and a mental health evaluation has been ordered.

On Thursday, Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark in Clinton said he’s not sure if or when the trial for Valerie Stenson, 53, will be rescheduled, and he can’t address why the two-week trial in December has been canceled.

Some of the most recent court documents filed in the case relate to a psychiatric evaluation for Stenson. It’s not clear if that evaluation is related to the cancellation of the trial, which has been rescheduled before, but it does seem that it would be difficult to conduct the evaluation, which could last up to 30 days, before the trial in December.

A status hearing was scheduled for Stenson in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Monday, and subpoenas filed on Tuesday said the trial is off. It had been scheduled for December 4-8 and from December 11-15.

An August 14 order for a psychiatric evaluation that was filed by Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge said Stenson was previously evaluated by State of Tennessee experts and determined to be competent to stand trial and to help with her defense. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: aggravated child abuse, aggravated child abuse and neglect, aggravated child endangerment, aggravated child neglect, Anderson County Criminal Court, Dave Clark, death penalty, Don Elledge, first-degree murder, Manhattan Inman, Mart S. Cizek, Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute, Norman Lee Follis Jr., psychiatric evaluation, Ridgeview Behavioral Health Services, Seventh Judicial District, Valerie Stenson

Life without parole, not death, in first-degree murder case

Posted at 11:06 am May 12, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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

Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, received life without parole on Thursday, May 12, 2016, after being convicted of first-degree murder in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court on Tuesday, May 10, for killing his uncle in Claxton more than four years ago. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 11:15 a.m.

CLINTON—An Anderson County man convicted of first-degree murder on Tuesday avoided the death penalty on Thursday, but he did receive a sentence of life without parole.

A jury of eight women and four men unanimously agreed on that decision after more than seven hours of deliberations on Wednesday and Thursday. Besides death and life without parole, they could have also returned a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

The jury said that prosecutors had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing of Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, sometime in mid-December 2011 was especially, heinous, atrocious, or cruel, and that Adams was 70 or older. Those were two of the four aggravating factors the jury could consider during the deliberations over whether to impose the death penalty against Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52.

Follis is Adams’ nephew, and he was convicted of first-degree murder for killing his uncle in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court on Tuesday.

Adams’ decomposing body was found buried under at least 10 blankets in a closet underneath a staircase at his apartment on Patt Lane in Claxton on January 24, 2012. A couch was shoved against the closet door. Adams had been reported missing. He died of strangulation. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court, death penalty, first-degree murder, Norman Lee Follis Jr., Samuel "Sammie" J. Adams, Tammy Sue Chapman

Jury deliberating sentence in death penalty case

Posted at 3:04 pm May 11, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Sammie-Adams-Picture-Norman-Follis-Trial-May-2016

Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, who was killed at 79, is pictured above about five years before his death, which the man convicted of his murder, his nephew Norman Lee Follis Jr., said occurred in December 2011. (Photo courtesy Sandra Follis)

 

CLINTON—An Anderson County jury is deliberating the sentence for Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, who was convicted on Tuesday of first-degree murder. The death penalty is one option.

The other two options are life without parole and life. No matter what happens, defense attorney Mart Cizek said, Follis will die in prison. Life with the possibility of parole has a 51-year minimum sentence, meaning Follis would be 103 before he would be eligible for release, if he receives the life sentence with the possibility of parole.

The jury convicted Follis on Tuesday of first-degree murder in the death of his uncle, Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, sometime between December 2011 and January 2012. Adams’ decomposing body was found on January 24, 2012, under a pile of at least 10 blankets in a closet under an apartment staircase on Patt Lane in Claxton after he was reported missing. He had been strangled. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court, Anderson County Sheriff's Department, death penalty, death penalty trial, Don Elledge, Don Scuglia, first-degree murder, Mart Cizek, Norman Lee Follis Jr., Samuel "Sammie" J. Adams, Tammy Sue Chapman

Jury selection starts this week in first-degree murder, death penalty case

Posted at 12:17 pm May 2, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Norman Lee Follis

Norman Lee Follis

A jury will be selected this week in the trial of a man facing first-degree murder charges in the death of his 79-year-old uncle, whose body was found hidden underneath an apartment staircase in Claxton in 2012, authorities said.

Jury selection in the trial of Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, is scheduled for Wednesday through Friday this week, and the trial is scheduled to continue on Monday, May 9, in Anderson County Criminal and Circuit Court in Clinton. Three days have been scheduled for the trial next week, although court officials said it’s possible that more time could be needed.

The state is seeking the death penalty against Follis and Tammy Sue Chapman, 47, who has also been charged with first-degree murder. The pair is accused of killing Sammie J. Adams, 79, who was Follis’ uncle, sometime between December 5, 2011, and January 24, 2012. Adams’ body was found under a stairwell in his home after friends and neighbors reported that they hadn’t seen him in a while, Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark said in an August 2014 press release.

Adams’ age—he was over 70—was an aggravating factor leading to the death penalty request, Clark said.

It’s the first death penalty case in Anderson County in decades. Deputy District Attorney General Tony Craighead and Assistant DA Emily Abbott will prosecute the case.

Follis is represented by defense attorneys Mart S. Cizek and Wesley D. Stone. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Front Page News, Meetings and Events, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Criminal and Circuit Court, Anderson County District Attorney General, Anderson County grand jury, Dave Clark, death penalty, Emily Abbott, first-degree murder, jury selection, Manhattan Inman, Mart S. Cizek, Norman Lee Follis, Norman Lee Follis Jr., Sammie J. Adams, Tammy Sue Chapman, Tony Craighead, trial, Wesley D. Stone

DA: State seeks death penalty against pair accused of murder

Posted at 12:14 pm August 25, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Norman Lee Follis Jr.

Norman Lee Follis Jr.

Note: This story was last updated at 12:50 p.m.

State officials will seek the death penalty against a pair accused in the murder of a 79-year-old man whose body was found hidden underneath an apartment staircase on Patt Lane in Claxton two years ago, authorities said.

Norman Lee Follis Jr., 50, and Tammy Sue Chapman, 46, are accused of killing Sammie J. Adams sometime between December 5, 2011, and January 24, 2012, Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a Monday announcement. Adams’ body was found under a stairwell in his home after friends and neighbors reported that they hadn’t seen him in a while, Clark said.

Adams’ age—he was over 70—was an aggravating factor leading to the death penalty request, Clark said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County District Attorney General, Claxton, Dave Clark, death penalty, Manhattan Inman, murder, Norman Lee Follis Jr., Patt Lane, Sammie J. Adams, Tammy Sue Chapman, Teller Village Lane, Valerie Becham

DA seeks death penalty in child’s death

Posted at 12:22 pm November 21, 2012
By John Huotari 2 Comments

Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 p.m.

Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark announced today he plans to seek the death penalty against an Oak Ridge woman charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 18-month-old granddaughter.

Valerie Stenson was indicted earlier this year in the April 17, 2011, death of Manhattan Inman. The child was found dead in a home on Teller Village Lane, and an Anderson County grand jury indicted Stenson for first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse and neglect earlier this year.

Clark announced his intention to seek the death penalty against Stenson in a notice filed in Anderson County Criminal Court on Wednesday.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County District Attorney General, Dave Clark, death penalty, Manhattan Inman, Valerie Stenson

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Classifieds

Public Notice: Comment period extended for Draft EA for Lithium Processing Facility at Y-12

EXTENSION OF THE COMMENT PERIOD FOR THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE LITHIUM PROCESSING … [Read More...]

Public Notice: Draft Environmental Assessment Available for Lithium Production Facility at Y-12

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE LITHIUM PROCESSING FACILITY AT THE Y-12 … [Read More...]

Availability of the Final Environmental Assessment for the Oak Ridge Enhanced Technology and Training Center (ORETTC) (DOE/EA-2144), Finding of No Significant Impact, and Wetland Statement of Findings

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the … [Read More...]

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