KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Update (8:00 p.m.): The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of two teens accused of ambushing and killing Stanley Freeman Jr., 16, as he left Austin-East High School in 2021.
The jury found Deondre Davis, 18, and Rashan Jordan, 16, guilty of first-degree murder, felony murder and aggravated child abuse.
The two received automatic life sentences for murder convictions. Because the two were juveniles at the time of the crime, that life sentence will be between 25 to 36 years in prison, which is shorter than a life sentence handed to an adult.
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Deondre Davis, then 16 at the time of the crime, and Rashan Jordan, then 14, were charged with his murder. They also face separate trials in several other armed attacks in a spree that broke out in early January 2021 and continued until just a couple days after Freeman was shot and killed.
Judge Steven Sword indicated the jury would likely deliberate through Friday night after delivering his instructions to them. Lawyers were instructed not to go more than 15 minutes away from the courtroom because jurors could return a unanimous verdict before the night is over.
“This case has been very well tried,” he said. “It’s a very difficult case.”
Day 4:
Cellphones used by the two teens accused of murdering an Austin-East High School student contained a wealth of digital data that tied them to the murder weapons and to the murder location the day it happened, court testimony Thursday showed.
Evidence found on the teal and white iPhones included video and stills of them holding and showing off the murder weapons and images of victim Stanley Freeman Jr., 16, after his killing.
The phones also included data by which a Knoxville Police Department expert could recreate their paths in the minutes before, during and after Freeman was shot and killed as he left Austin-East the afternoon of Feb. 12, 2021.
Knox County prosecutors TaKisha Fitzgerald and Larry Dillon are coming to the end of their witnesses.
Defense attorneys Gregory P. Isaacs and Ashlee Mathis, who represent Davis, now 18, and Hoai Robinette, who represents Jordan, now 16, are expected Friday morning to cross-examine KPD's Shannon Morris, a digital forensic expert who drew masses of digital data from the phones.
After that, the state's last major witness is expected to focus on how Freeman died, including details about his autopsy. Freeman was shot as he drove down Tarleton Avenue right after he left Austin-East.
The defense then will reveal if it plans to call any witnesses on their clients' behalf. They are not obliged to call anyone.
It's almost certain that neither Davis nor Jordan, who were 16 and 14 at the time of the killing, will take the stand.
It's possible jurors could get the case for deliberation Friday. If not, Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword said he's prepared to resume the trial Monday morning.
Other highlights from Thursday included an appearance by FBI Special Agent Mathew Wilde, who examined phone company data to show how the defendants' phones moved around East Knoxville on the day Freeman was killed. The data showed when cell towers near Austin-East serviced their phones, he said.
Wilde is an expert on the subject, and lent his expertise earlier this spring during the weekslong murder trial of lawyer Alex Murdaugh, who was convicted of killing his wife and son on their South Carolina hunting lodge property.
The agent showed jurors a map of how the phones moved in and around the high school and East Knoxville based on cellphone service from nearby towers.
On cross-examination by Robinette, Jordan's attorney, Wilde acknowledged that the account holder for the phone that's been linked to Jordan is actually held in another man's name. Wilde said he couldn't say who had the phone as it moved around outside the school and East Knoxville.
Jurors also heard recorded testimony from 2021 from an Austin-East teen taken during juvenile court proceedings for the defendants. Germany Hines Jr. told the court then he encountered the defendants outside the school the day Freeman was killed.
He said Davis was driving the blue Nissan at the time. Hines, who was compelled to be present and preferred not to testify in 2021, also gave conflicting testimony, indicating at one point that Jordan was present and then saying that only Davis was present in the car.
Hines also said he heard gunshots after Freeman drove away. He said he tried to reach Jordan by phone but was told the pair would get back to him.
The young man couldn't appear in court Thursday because he was shot and killed in December at age 16 in East Knoxville. Police continue to investigate his killing and no one has been arrested, according to KPD spokesman Scott Erland.
