Oak Ridge Today

Prosecutors withdraw death penalty in grandmother’s murder case

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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…]

Defendant apprehended overseas after drug, money laundering indictment

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Moshin Agha

Moshin Agha

 

A defendant was apprehended overseas in Dubai after being indicted on drug and money laundering charges in Anderson County, according to court records.

Moshin Agha, 30, was picked up by authorities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and then brought to the United States, according to a motion to increase bond and set bond conditions that was filed in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on July 18. After being brought to the United States, Agha was turned over to state authorities in New York.

Agha, who has an address listed in India, waived extradition and is now in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton, according to court and jail records. It’s not clear when he was apprehended in Dubai and brought to New York.

A writ of criminal capias that had been issued November 2, 2016, ordered Agha to be detained and brought to Anderson County. It was executed with Agha’s arrest by Simon Byrne, acting director of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County, on Wednesday, July 18. [Read more…]

Jury deliberating sentence in death penalty case

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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…]

Follis found guilty of first-degree murder in death penalty case

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Norman Lee Follis Jr May 10 2016

Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, is facing the death penalty as a possible sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, for killing his uncle in Claxton more than four years ago. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

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

CLINTON—An Anderson County man who is facing the death penalty as a possible sentence was found guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday for killing his uncle in Claxton more than four years ago.

A jury of eight women and four men deliberated for about one hour and 40 minutes before unanimously returning the guilty verdict against Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52,  in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton. Follis was convicted of killing his uncle, Samuel “Sammie” J. Adams, 79, sometime between December 5, 2011, and January 24, 2012.

It was the first death penalty trial in Anderson County since 1991, officials said.

Adams’ body was found hidden underneath an apartment staircase on Patt Lane in Claxton on January 24, 2012, after he was reported missing in December 2011. His decomposing body was buried under at least 10 blankets, and a couch had been shoved up against the door of the closet where Adams was hidden, according to testimony.

Defense attorneys did not dispute that Follis killed his uncle, a Korean War veteran.

“We cannot whitewash that out,” attorney Mart Cizek said. [Read more…]

Jury in first-degree murder trial could be sequestered up to 2 weeks

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Norman Lee Follis

Norman Lee Follis

CLINTON—The jury in a first-degree murder trial that continues in Clinton on Monday could be sequestered for up to two weeks, a prosecutor said Friday.

That means jurors will be “separate and apart from others” during that time, said Tony Craighead, deputy district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District (Anderson County). Jurors will only be able to communicate with others by using the phone of a law enforcement officer and only under the supervision of an officer.

“You cannot have any contact with the outside world,” Craighead said in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton as prosecutors and defense attorney Mart Cizek questioned potential jurors in the courtroom and dismissed some, often four at a time.

Jurors can’t have cell phones or electronic devices, such as tablets or iPads. They can bring printed books, but not electronic ones. They will be prohibited from reading, hearing, or seeing any news about the trial for Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, who has been charged with first-degree murder, property theft of more than $1,000, and forgery. [Read more…]

Maine man pleads guilty to murder charge in OS drug deal that ended in death

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Scott Benjamin Pike (November 2014 photo by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

A 32-year-old Maine man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated robbery in the death of an Oliver Springs man after a drug deal in May 2011.

Scott Benjamin Pike, of Lewiston, Maine, entered the guilty pleas in Anderson County Criminal Court on Friday, January 29.

Pike received a 20-year sentence on the second-degree murder charge, a Class A felony, and a 12-year sentence on the aggravated robbery charge, a Class B felony. There is no probation on either count, according to court records. The sentences will run concurrently. He will receive credit for time served.

Pike was indicted on a first-degree murder charge on February 7, 2012, by the Anderson County Grand Jury. Also indicted were Ronny Blake Hamrick of Oliver Springs and Tristin Jane Dayon of Lewiston, Maine. A first-degree murder charge could include a premeditated killing or an unlawful death that occurred during a robbery or attempted robbery, according to the indictments. [Read more…]