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SEVIERVILLE â A Cleveland woman accused of shooting her boyfriend on I-40 and trying to make his death look like an accident is now facing a charge of first-degree murder after a Sevier County grand jury enhanced the charge.
Brittany Faith Swafford was already charged with second-degree murder in relation to the Aug. 12 murder of Samuel Lane.
Sevierville Police officers found Laneâs body in his car on I-40, where it had rolled off the road and had been reported as a possible single car accident. Investigators determined Lane had been shot.
Swafford later told investigators a gun in the car âwent offâ and struck Lane while they were stopped at the interstate. She fled with the help of two other people in another car.
SEVIERVILLE â A Cookeville man who was in the Sevier County Jail for assault and violation of probation upped the ante on his charges by threatening a judge, an assistant district attorney, and a public defender, according to TBI.
Tyler Dakota Matthews, 25, of Cookeville, had been in the Sevier County Jail since Nov. 10, according to jail records. He was charged with violation of probation and three counts of assault; his bond was set at $6,000.
Now heâs facing $50,000 bond, because he allegedly sent letters from the jail threatening court officials.
The indictments allege he threatened Circuit Court Judge Jim Gass, public defender Mendi Winstead, and assistant district attorney general Ron Newcomb.
SEVIERVILLE â A Knoxville man is heading to prison for 25 years after pleading guilty to firing at 10 Knox County Sheriffâs deputies who were closing in on his hotel room in Kodak.
Richard James Smith, 32, of Knoxville, was set to face a jury Wednesday on 10 counts of attempted murder. Instead, court officials said he accepted a plea agreement Tuesday afternoon in which he pleaded guilty to all 10 charges.
The 25-year, concurrent sentences were the maximum Smith could receive for the crime, Assistant District Attorney Ron Newcomb said.
âWe certainly appreciate the investigative work of the Sevierville Police Department and the assistance of TBI and the Sevier County Sheriffâs Department, as well as the cooperation of the KCSO and owners and staff of the Days Inn,â he said.
PIGEON FORGE â Pigeon Forge officials said theyâre reconsidering how the city works with car shows after a Rod Run weekend that involved shots fired at a gas station, traffic that congested city streets into the early hours of the morning, and an increasingly raucous crowd.
âMoving forward, the city has some decisions to make as far as how these shows progress,â Police Chief Richard Catlett said Monday.
âIâm concerned with the safety of my officers and the public. Iâm concerned with how itâs going.â
Last weekend marked the first Rod Run in Pigeon Forge since the pandemic, and it was probably one of the most attended ever, Catlett said