Background
On August 17, 2018, at approximately 3:30 a.m., two armed men robbed and shot four victims in the parking lot of the Cobra bar in East Nashville. Brandon Teal and Jaime Sarrantonio were killed by gunshot wounds. Amy Cothern and Steven Harrington were robbed; Cothern and Sarrantonio were sexually assaulted. The victims were discovered by a patron and bar staff; police arrived within minutes of 911 calls.
The defendant, Horace Palmer Williamson III, was arrested following a helicopter and ground-unit pursuit on August 17, 2018. His arrest occurred after police tracked stolen vehicles matching descriptions from surveillance footage. Investigation revealed that the defendant and co-defendant Demontrey Logsdon had committed a crime spree in early August 2018, including the theft of three vehicles and seven rifles.
At trial, the State presented 28 witnesses to circumstantially establish the defendant’s identity as one of the two shooters. The defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of especially aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated sexual battery, and one count of felon in possession of a weapon. The jury imposed life without the possibility of parole on the murder counts; the trial court imposed a 25-year sentence on remaining counts.
The Court’s Holding
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed all convictions and the life sentence. The court applied the Jackson v. Virginia standard, asking whether a rational trier of fact could find the essential elements of the crimes beyond a reasonable doubt when viewing evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. The appellate panel found the evidence sufficient to establish the defendant’s identity as one of the perpetrators, notwithstanding the circumstantial nature of the proof.
The court upheld the jury’s imposition of life without parole, finding that the State proved three statutory aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) prior conviction involving violence to the person; (2) creation of great risk of death to multiple persons during the offense; and (3) substantial role in committing first-degree murder. The jury was free to weigh victim impact testimony and had acted within its discretion in imposing the enhanced sentence.
Key Takeaways
- Fingerprint evidence from Ms. Cothern’s cellphone and a metal cigarette case found in the alley, combined with DNA evidence and cellphone location data, was sufficient to establish identity in a capital case.
- Surveillance footage showing stolen vehicles at locations where Ms. Cothern’s debit card was fraudulently used in the hours after the murders corroborated other evidence linking the defendant to the crime scene.
- Cellphone records placing the defendant’s device near Cobra approximately 14 minutes before the shooting, and showing the device had accessed a news story about the murders hours later, supported the jury’s verdict.
- A prior felony conviction for facilitation of especially aggravated robbery qualified as a statutory aggravating circumstance for capital sentencing purposes.
Why It Matters
This decision confirms that Tennessee courts will uphold convictions based on circumstantial evidence when multiple independent investigative techniques—fingerprints, DNA analysis, cellphone location data, and surveillance footage—all point to the defendant’s guilt. The case illustrates how modern forensic and technological evidence can establish identity in violent felonies even when eyewitness identification is limited or unavailable. Notably, the two surviving victims could not conclusively identify the shooters’ faces because the perpetrators wore masks.
The opinion reinforces the appellate standard of review favoring jury verdicts and demonstrates that trial courts have substantial discretion in imposing capital sentences when statutory aggravating circumstances are proven. The case will be relevant to defense counsel evaluating the strength of circumstantial evidence and the weight Tennessee courts assign to forensic evidence in identity cases.