Press Releases

Prosecutors with DA Charme Allen’s DUI Unit obtained a conviction today for a crash in which the passenger of the impaired driver lost his life. Joyce Darlene Scott, 50, pled guilty to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide and was sentenced to serve eighteen years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. Scott had two prior convictions for DUI at the time of the crash.

The District Attorney’s Office secured convictions today against Melvin Robert King, 24, the last of five co-defendants responsible for a robbery that turned into a homicide in June 2014. Following a five-day trial, King was convicted of First Degree Felony Murder, Especially Aggravated Kidnapping, Attempted Especially Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Burglary, Employing a Firearm During the Commission of a Dangerous Felony, Reckless Aggravated Assault, and Aggravated Animal Cruelty.

A man was convicted today for dealing prescription pain pills and for an overdose death caused by his drug dealing. Prosecutors in DA Charme Allen’s Career Gang Unit obtained convictions for Sale of Schedule II Oxymorphone and Reckless Homicide committed by Michael Dewayne Carter, 51.

Prosecutors in District Attorney General Charme P. Allen’s Career Gang Unit obtained a sixty-eight year sentence for multiple crimes committed by Joshua Martez Williams, 21. In a sentencing order filed today, Judge Bob McGee agreed with prosecutor TaKisha Fitzgerald that Williams deserved an enhanced sentence.

Prosecutors in Charme Allen’s Career Gang Unit obtained convictions against four Crip gang members following a deadly shooting in Western Heights. ADA Phil Morton announced a resolution in the cases against Couron E’Drice Bennett, 19, Marcus Eugene Stanford, 22, Deauntay Shamar Tate, 24, and Robert Dwight Wade, 23.

Prosecutors in DA Charme Allen’s Felony Drug Unit secured convictions today against a multi-convicted felon for growing 522 marijuana plants. In a two-day trial, ADAs Sean McDermott and Hector Sanchez proved that Travis Joe Braunm, 33, manufactured marijuana at 1817 and 1823 Thompson Road in west Knox County.

Three defendants were sentenced to serve over sixty years in prison after the Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated a jury verdict that was originally overturned by a local judge. At a three-day trial in October 2011, Assistant District Attorney Kevin Allen obtained jury verdicts for Especially Aggravated Kidnapping, Aggravated Robbery, and Aggravated Burglary against co-defendants Larry Jereller Alston, Kris Theotis Young, and Joshua Edward Webb.

Beginning September 14, citizens seeking expungement of criminal records will be able to obtain assistance at the Knox County Expungement Court, a joint effort between District Attorney General Charme P. Allen and Criminal Court Clerk Mike Hammond.

A Knox County jury took less than an hour to reject a claim of self-defense and convict Ricky Ronald Thompson, 44, of Aggravated Assault following an altercation that left the victim with four metal plates in his face. Because the defendant has ten prior felony convictions, the State will ask that Thompson serve the maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.

A Knox County man was convicted of Aggravated Assault after prosecutors with Charme Allen’s Criminal Division presented proof to a jury about an assault committed by Hythm Hijer, 37, at Ray’s ESG in March of 2013. Hijer now faces a separate sentencing hearing where Judge Scott Green will determine the appropriate sentence.

Prosecutors in Charme Allen’s Career Gang Unit obtained convictions today against a gang member and repeat cocaine dealer. Eric Eugene Pollock, 29, pled guilty to two separate cases of Possession with Intent to Sell Cocaine in a Drug Free School Zone, admitted that he is a member of the Gangster Disciples criminal gang, and received a sentence to serve thirty years in prison.

A man convicted of producing child pornography was sentenced to serve nine years in prison following a sentencing hearing held today. In April, child abuse prosecutors with District Attorney General Charme P. Allen’s office secured a conviction in a case where Robert Alexander Grisham, 47, produced child pornography by secretly recording a minor in a state of undress before and after showering.

Prosecutors in District Attorney General Charme P. Allen’s Career Gang Unit obtained a seventy-eight year sentence for multiple crimes committed by Brandon Deshawn Middlebrook, 26. In a sentencing order filed today, Judge Bob McGee agreed with prosecutor TaKisha Fitzgerald that Middlebrook deserved an enhanced sentence.

District Attorney General Charme Allen’s DUI Unit obtained a conviction today for Driving Under the Influence against Rebecca Mary Williams, 39. ADA Joe Welker presented testimony to the jury that on September 22, 2013, Williams was driving down Northshore Drive on a flat tire.

Convicted felon and known drug dealer Marquail Anthony Patterson, 36, was convicted today following a five-day trial prosecuted by DA Charme Allen’s Career Gang Unit.

Isiah Holloway, an armed marijuana dealer with a prior felony record, is off the streets tonight after criminal convictions obtained by District Attorney Charme P. Allen’s Career Gang Unit. A jury convicted Holloway, 32, as-charged of seven crimes, including possessing marijuana in a school-zone with the intent to sell and possessing a firearm as a felon and during the commission of a dangerous felony.

District Attorney Charme Allen announced today that Delbert E. Morgan, convicted as a “ghost employee”” in the office of former Knox County Trustee Mike Lowe, has been ordered to pay restitution of $196,816.08 to Knox County before October 1st of this year.”

Attorneys with Charme Allen’s DUI Unit will be on hand this weekend to enforce a “No Refusal”” Weekend as part of a nationwide Fourth of July DUI prevention campaign. Prosecutors will be on call to assist law enforcement in obtaining search warrants to draw blood from individuals arrested for DUI who have refused to consent to a blood draw to determine the amount of alcohol and/or drugs in their system.”

District Attorney General Charme Allen’s Major Crimes Unit obtained a conviction today when Kenneth Wayne Smith, 23, pled guilty-as-charged to Second Degree Murder in the beating death of victim Jonathan Hackler. Smith received a sentence of fifteen years in prison without the possibility of parole.

A woman convicted of neglecting her two-year-old child was sentenced to fifteen years in prison today at a sentencing hearing in front of Judge Scott Green. Today’s sentence followed the April jury trial conviction of Ashonti Sheeerice Glass for Aggravated Child Neglect.