Murderer Receives Two Consecutive Life Sentences Plus 105 Years

Prosecutors in DA Charme Allen’s Career Gang Unit obtained two consecutive life sentences plus one hundred and five years for a man who murdered two victims, stole their property, and set their house on fire. At trial in February, Benjamin Tillman Foust, Jr., 36, was convicted of two counts of First Degree Murder, ten counts of First Degree Felony Murder, four counts of Especially Aggravated Robbery, two counts of Aggravated Arson, and two counts of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon. In a sentencing hearing today, prosecutors asked Judge Scott Green for consecutive sentences to ensure Foust spends the rest of his life behind bars.

In a four-day trial, Assistant District Attorney TaKisha Fitzgerald presented proof to the jury that on August 16, 2011, Foust, Teddie Allen Jones, and Ashley Renee Tanner targeted the victims and broke into their North Knoxville home. Jones knew that the male victim had recently undergone surgery and had been prescribed opiate painkillers. Once inside the residence, Foust and Jones bludgeoned the victims to death with a hammer, stole pills, a safe, and a shotgun, and set the residence on fire. Investigators with the Knoxville Police Department were able to solve the crime and apprehend the defendants.

“These victims were brutally murdered for a handful of pills,” said DA Charme Allen.”These two men have earned every day of their sentences.”

The co-defendants in this case pled guilty in 2013. Teddie Allen Jones received two consecutive life sentences plus seventy-five years. Ashley Renee Tanner pled guilty to Facilitation of Felony Murder and received a twenty-five-year sentence.

Foust is a member of the Aryan Circle prison gang.

If you have any questions, please contact Sean McDermott at 865-215-2515 or Sean.McDermott@knoxcounty.org. For more information about the District Attorney’s Office, visit our website at dag.knoxcountytn.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.