A Greene County teen will face prosecution in adult court on charges he killed his grandmother and 7-year-old brother in April, a Greene County Juvenile Court judge has ruled.
Jordan Allen, 16 at the time, is alleged to have murdered Sherry Cole, 59, and Jessie Allen, 7, at their Chuckey home off Old Snapps Ferry Road.
WBIR is naming Allen because of the heinous nature of the case.
"The juvenile defendant used a hammer to kill each of the victims in this case, one of whom was only 7 years old," Greene County Judge Kenneth Bailey Jr. wrote in his Oct. 11 transfer order."
He continued: "Furthermore, there was much testimony that the juvenile defendant disliked his younger brother and 'didn't like playing with him.' "
According to court documents, two men witnessed the crimes, ages 35 and 25.
"Both victims were smaller and weaker than (Allen)," the court wrote.
Allen, who has been in juvenile custody for months, was expected to face a Greene County Criminal Court hearing in the coming days. Bailey set bond at $800,000 as the teen moves into adult custody.
The judge said the Criminal Court judge, Allen's lawyer and prosecutors would have to figure out where to put Allen now that he's being moved from juvenile status. Bailey asked that the decision be made by Monday, Oct. 24, so he could alert the Sevier County Detention Center, where the teen has been held.
According to court records, the 16-year-old started planning to kill the victims hours before he committed the crimes.
Greene County District Attorney General Dan Armstrong charged Allen in juvenile petitions with the murders and sought his transfer from juvenile to adult status.
Bailey heard the case in Juvenile Court in September and earlier this month. The public did not have access.
As required by law, Bailey found there was probable cause to believe Allen committed the murders as alleged by the prosecution.
In addition, the judge found Allen wasn't committable to an institution and that it was in the community's best interests for his case to be moved to adult status.
Bailey's order describes a grim childhood for Allen. His father dropped him off at the grandmother's house for a visit three or four years ago and never returned, records state. His mother had been an inmate for several years at the time of the killings, the court noted.
The state Department of Children's Services had worked with him and the family in a program on "de-escalation techniques" and "coping skills." He'd left the home several times in late 2021 and early 2022, records state.
If Allen had stayed under juvenile court jurisdiction he would only have been answerable to a judge and the support system until reaching his 19th birthday.