KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It'll be up to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals to decide if the man who attacked his parents, cut up their bodies and tried to dissolve their flesh with chemicals in their own West Knox County home in 2016 is entitled to a new trial.
Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword denied a defense request Wednesday morning for a new trial for the Baton Rouge, La., man. Guy, 33, wasn't present; he's serving his 106-year sentence in a Whiteville, Tenn., prison.
Knox County Assistant District Public Defender John Halstead, as the defense has consistently said for years, argues Knox County Sheriff's Office authorities improperly entered the Guy home on Goldenview Lane on Nov. 28, 2016.
He argues authorities improperly seized items that would prove key at trial, including a notebook in which Guy plotted the killings and talked about money he would get after the murders.
That appears to be the defense's best shot at a new trial for Guy.
A Knox County jury convicted Guy of the murders and abuse of their corpses.
The trial court ruled before the trial started in September that KCSO had reason to enter the home because of concerns about the welfare of Joel Guy Sr. and Lisa Guy. A co-worker of Lisa Guy's had raised concerns the morning of Nov 28 because she hadn't shown up for work.
The judge also ruled detectives properly took items from the house, including things found in an upstairs bedroom where Guy Jr. had been staying. The items included Guy's backpack and his notebook.
Testimony showed Guy plotted to kill his parents in their home over the Thanksgiving 2016 weekend because they were cutting off their extensive and longstanding financial support. The Guys were selling the Goldenview home and moving to a family home in Hawkins County.
Guy had hardly ever worked, depending on his mother's financial aid.
Guy drove up to Knox County for the Thanksgiving holiday and spent several days in the home.
Evidence indicated Guy murdered his parents Saturday, Nov, 26, 2016.
Testimony showed he stabbed his father to death in a violent struggle in an upstairs exercise room while his mother was out grocery shopping. When his mother came home about 12:30 p.m. that day, Guy stabbed and murdered her, evidence showed.
He then cut up their bodies and put the parts in blue tubs he'd brought, pouring corrosive chemicals into the bins in hopes of destroying the evidence. The blue tubs were found in the upstairs master bathroom.
Detectives also found gloves, knives and blood throughout the home indicative of what Guy had done.
They also found gas cans with gasoline, suggesting Guy planned to set the house on fire after the killings.
Guy left the home about a day after the killings and headed back to Louisiana to get treatment for deep cuts he'd suffered Nov. 26 to his hands.
Evidence shows he tried to drive back to the scene but turned around when he saw investigators at the home. He was subsequently arrested at his Louisiana apartment.
The state didn't seek the death penalty against Guy. The defense offered no proof that Guy suffered from any mental problems that led to the killings.
Last summer, before the trial started, Guy offered in a handwritten motion to let Sword impose the death penalty if he was convicted. Sword told him that was a question for the prosecution to consider, and it wasn't seeking his execution.
