Oak Ridge Today



 










Rocky Top woman allegedly started fire at home with children inside

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Sharon Lee Braden
Sharon Lee Braden

A Rocky Top woman allegedly started a fire at a home north of Clinton with an adult and two children inside in June, and she was arrested Monday, authorities said.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said Sharon Lee Braden, 48, of Rocky Top, was arrested on charges of aggravated arson, three counts of aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment. Those charges are related to a June fire at a home on Offutt Road, which is east of Lake City Highway (Highway 25/State Route 9) between Clinton and Rocky Top.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sean Flynn issued arrest warrants as a result of evidence collected during his investigation and statements made by an eyewitness, a press release said.

“The witness reported that he saw Braden start the fire, and when he approached her, she fled,” the press release said.

[Read more…]

Clinton man charged with attempted murder

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

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 charged with attempted murder of deputy has two homicide convictions

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Charles Edward Mason

CLINTON—The Anderson County man charged with attempted murder after allegedly pointing a gun at a deputy and pulling the trigger twice in April has previously pleaded guilty to homicides in Kentucky and Tennessee.

The first homicide conviction was in Knox County, Kentucky, in 1994. The second was in Anderson County, Tennessee, in 2010. The defendant, Charles Edward Mason, now 51, received a nine-year sentence in the first case and a seven-year sentence in the second. He had been accused of shooting a man with a pistol in the first case, the one in Kentucky, according to Knox County court records. He reportedly stabbed a man in the Anderson County case 15 years later.

When he was charged with attempted murder in Anderson County this year, Mason was on probation in a different case involving drug and driver’s license violations. He had pleaded guilty in January to possessing more than 0.5 grams of methamphetamine for resale and driving on a revoked or suspended license. He had received a 10-year sentence, and he had agreed to be declared a habitual motor vehicle offender as well, according to Anderson County court records.

Now, he is facing 24 new charges in Anderson County, including two counts of attempted first-degree murder, eight counts of aggravated assault, three counts of aggravated kidnapping, and three drug charges, among other counts.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today.  Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic

Pro

Temporary

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

For members: Driver in fatal crash receives 12-year sentence

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Scott-Gray-Hearing-Aug-11-2016

The driver in a fatal two-vehicle crash on Clinton Highway in April 2016 has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide by intoxication and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, and he received a 12-year sentence.

The defendant served more than the statutory minimum of 45 days before his plea agreement—he served about one year and one month in the Anderson County jail—and the rest of his 12-year sentence was suspended, to be served on intensive probation, among other conditions, according to Anderson County court records.

The crash three years ago killed a 23-year-old Heiskell woman.

The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today.  Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic

Pro

Temporary

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

Updated: Woman charged with homicide in child’s death after crash

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Fatal-Crash-Memorial-Lafayette-Drive-Emory-Valley-Road-Jan-15-2017-Slider

Oak Ridge Police Department officers started a memorial with stuffed animals for a child killed in a fatal two-vehicle crash at Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive on Friday evening, Jan. 13, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 7 p.m.

A second person has been charged with homicide in the death of a young boy in a traffic crash in Oak Ridge in January 2017.

Jason Robert Braden III, 3, died in the two-vehicle crash, which injured at least three other people and was considered a mass casualty event. It was reported at about 5:20 p.m. Friday, January 13, 2017, at the intersection of Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive.

In March 2018, Oak Ridge Today reported that an Anderson County man, Jason Robert Braden II, 25, had been charged, after the crash, in an 11-count indictment that included vehicular homicide by intoxication. The other charges against Braden included vehicular homicide by recklessness, four counts of reckless aggravated assault, reckless endangerment when a deadly weapon (a motor vehicle) is involved, driving under the influence, driving without a license, speeding, and violation of the child restraint law.

That case is still pending in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. The homicide and assault charges are felonies, while the driving offenses are misdemeanors.

The second person, Ashley Marie Ann Braden, 23, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury in Clinton on December 4. She was charged with a single felony count of criminally negligent homicide. The indictment alleged that Braden engaged in criminally negligent conduct that resulted in the death of Jason Robert Braden III. The indictment does not elaborate on the alleged facts of the case, which is typical for indictments. [Read more…]

Records: Man shot last week has history of family disputes

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

A 61-year-old Clinton man was injured in a shooting on Lee Lane on Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 26, 2018, police said, after he reportedly came on to his son’s property with a loaded gun and fired several shots toward the house, reportedly over the positioning of a floodlight. The son exited his home and returned fire, striking his father once in the buttocks, police said. Police found the man on the ground in front of his home, pictured above. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Clinton man who was shot during a dispute with his son last week, reportedly over the positioning of a floodlight, has had other disputes with family members, including another one involving a firearm, according to Anderson County court records.

In one of the previous cases, the man who was shot, Terry Lee Crawford, 61, allegedly vandalized his sister’s house with a tractor in October, also because of a floodlight, the court records said. That case is pending in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

Before the alleged vandalism this year, Crawford had pleaded guilty to an assault against his sister and another victim in 2015—that case involved a firearm—and to an attempted assault against his son in 2016.

The incidents have involved three homes plus Crawford’s, all on Lee Lane in west Clinton, court records said.

Besides those cases, there is an indictment pending against Crawford for driving under the influence, reckless endangerment, and reckless driving.

It’s not clear what charges might be filed after last week’s shooting. Crawford was taken to the hospital after the shooting. He was booked into the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Monday. But affidavits, which include specific charges and brief descriptions of alleged crimes, were not available on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the day after the shooting, the district attorney general’s office called Crawford a “danger to society” and asked that his bond be revoked or increased in two of the previous cases. The motion appears to have been successful, at least for now; Crawford’s bond has been set at $1.7 million, an unusually large bond, and he remained in custody on Tuesday night, according to Anderson County jail records.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today. 

Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.

Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here:

Basic

Pro

Temporary

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

Warrants: Clinton man arrested after AC man shot in leg, stomach

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Alexander William Carter

Alexander William Carter

 

A Clinton man has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment after an Anderson County man was allegedly shot in the stomach and left leg after an argument early Monday morning, court records said.

The shooting was reported at about 3:30 a.m. Monday on Leach Lane in Anderson County, north of Clinton and west of Highway 25.

The injuries to the male victim, Nathan Robert Gifford, appeared to be non-life threatening, according to a Monday press release from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. Gifford was alert and taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, where he had to have a surgery to treat his injuries, the press release said.

Warrants filed in the case said the alleged shooter, Alexander William Carter, 20, had been arguing with Gifford, who lives in the Leach Lane home, when Gifford told Carter to leave.

Carter left but returned less than five minutes later and started shooting, said the warrants, which cited Gifford. One bullet struck Gifford in the stomach, and another round hit him in the left leg, the warrants said. [Read more…]

Courts: Attempted murder charges sent to grand jury after apartment shooting

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Kali Annabelle Bailey

Two attempted first-degree murder charges filed against a 20-year-old woman after a shooting in an Oak Ridge apartment parking lot in May have been sent to the Anderson County Grand Jury.

The charges against Kali Annabelle Bailey, whose last known address was in Powell, were bound over, or sent to, the grand jury, after a 100-minute preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, July 31. A victim and a police officer both testified during the preliminary hearing.

Bailey is accused of shooting into a Kia Optima car that had two people inside and was backed into a parking space in the Manhattan Apartments on North Purdue Avenue at about 11:03 p.m. May 6 as part of a possible dispute between two women over a man, which was described in court as jealousy or a “love triangle.”

The rest of this story, which includes testimony that you will read about only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor. 

Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.

Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here:

Please let us know if you advertise on Oak Ridge Today, have recently contributed, or subscribe through PayPal or check payments, but you have not yet been added to our website as a member. You can send an email to [email protected] to be added. Thank you!

Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

Criminal case pending against man accused of crashing into school playground

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Charles Eric Harmon

Charles Eric Harmon

 

A criminal case is pending against a Claxton man who was allegedly intoxicated when he crashed through a chain link fence into a playground at an elementary school in Clinton and almost hit two officers with three school-aged children, Anderson County court records said.

Charles Eric Harmon, 59, had a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage about his breath and person,” and he told officers he was intoxicated and had “shot up heroin” earlier in the day and shouldn’t have been driving, Clinton Police Department Sergeant Scott Gregory said in affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. Harmon has been charged with driving under the influence and five felony counts of reckless endangerment.

The crash was reported on Thursday, October 26, 2017, at Clinton Elementary School on North Hicks Street. Harmon has a pre-trial conference scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday, July 30, 2018, in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

Affidavits filed by Gregory after the crash in October said a vehicle driven by Harmon had traveled through a chain link fence into the Clinton Elementary School playground and uphill into a tree. The Clinton Police Department and Clinton Fire Department both responded. [Read more…]

Jury finds Patty guilty of homicide in fatal car-motorcycle crash

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Pictured above at left during the trial for Noelle Patty, center, of Oak Ridge, in Anderson County Criminal Court on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, are defense attorneys Michael Ritter, left, and David Ege. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Pictured above at left during the trial for Noelle Patty, 41, center, of Oak Ridge, in Anderson County Criminal Court on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, are defense attorneys Michael Ritter, left, and David Ege. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4:20 p.m.

CLINTON—An Anderson County jury on Wednesday found an Oak Ridge resident guilty of criminally negligent homicide after a fatal car-motorcycle crash on North Illinois Avenue more than two years ago.

The jury of 10 men and two women deliberated about three hours before reaching its unanimous verdict at the end of a two-day trial of Noelle Leigh Patty, 41, in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.

Patty was found not guilty of a second count, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, but the jury did find her guilty of what is known as a lesser included offense, a charge of reckless endangerment.

Patty was convicted of the two charges in the death of motorcyclist Rufus E. Shephard III, 44, of Oak Ridge.

“They finally got my brother some justice,” said Linda Shephard, after family members had exchanged hugs and tears with prosecutors and police officers. [Read more…]

Updated: State won’t prosecute three misdemeanors in fatal car-motorcycle crash

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Noelle Leigh Patty

Noelle Leigh Patty

Note: This story was updated at 4 p.m. July 25.

The state will not prosecute three misdemeanor charges that had been filed against an Oak Ridge woman after a fatal car-motorcycle crash more than two years ago, but prosecutors will proceed to trial on two felony charges: criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.

The trial has been scheduled for Tuesday for Noelle Leigh Patty, 41, in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. Patty has been charged with homicide in the death of motorcyclist Rufus E. Shephard III, 44, of Oak Ridge.

The court was notified of the state’s decision not to prosecute the three misdemeanor charges last week, and a judgement was filed Tuesday, July 17. The three misdemeanor charges are failure to yield the right of way resulting in death, failure to obey a traffic control device, and failure to provide evidence of insurance.

“The state has elected to go to trial only on the felony charges in Count 1 and 5,” said the state’s notice, filed last week by Seventh Judicial District Assistant District Attorney General Emily Faye Abbott. [Read more…]

Courts: Trial scheduled in fatal car-motorcycle crash

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Noelle Leigh Patty

Noelle Leigh Patty

CLINTON—A trial has been scheduled this month for an Oak Ridge woman charged with homicide after a fatal car-motorcycle crash on North Illinois Avenue in January 2016.

The felony jury trial for Noelle Leigh Patty, 41, is scheduled for July 24 in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. Patty has been charged with homicide in the death of motorcyclist Rufus E. Shephard III, 44, of Oak Ridge.

On Friday, Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge rejected a motion to dismiss two of the five charges filed against Patty: criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment when a deadly weapon is involved. The Anderson County Grand Jury has found probable cause on the five charges, Elledge said, and no facts or evidence had been presented to the court yet. He called the motion to dismiss “totally premature.”

Patty was indicted on the five charges by the Anderson County Grand Jury on August 1, 2017. Besides homicide and reckless endangerment, the charges included failure to yield the right-of-way resulting in death, failure to obey a traffic control device, and failure to provide proof of insurance.

The crash occurred between a Cadillac STS car and Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle on Sunday evening, January 31, 2016, at the western exit of the Westcott Center, the Kroger shopping center. Authorities said Patty, who was driving the Cadillac, made an improper left turn from a right-turn-only lane at that exit, and she failed to yield to Shephard, who was riding the motorcycle north on North Illinois Avenue. Shephard died after he collided with the car, which was turning south in “the pathway of northbound traffic,” Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Chris Luethge said in arrest warrants filed after the crash.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today. The rest of the story includes information about the “undisputed facts,” results of alcohol and drug tests, and arguments for and against dismissing two of the five charges.

Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.

Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here:

Please let us know if you advertise on Oak Ridge Today, have recently contributed, or subscribe through PayPal or check payments, but you have not yet been added to our website as a member. You can send an email to [email protected] to be added. Thank you!

Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include coverage of court cases and in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today