KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — UPDATE (Feb. 8): A Knox County jury convicted Paul Foutner of second-degree murder on Wednesday. He was also convicted of attempted second-degree murder of a passenger in the car, and reckless endangerment for firing into a school bus.
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A Knox County jury this week will have to decide if a gunman acted carelessly or with intent in February 2021 when he shot and killed a woman in North Knoxville traffic.
Tamaralynn Russell, 38, was shot in the head while driving a van the afternoon of Feb. 17, 2021, on Central Street near Atlantic Avenue.
Police said Paul Foutner, 32, was angry and confrontational when he fired gunshots at Russell's van. She died hours later at an area hospital.
The defense, however, told jurors in an opening statement Monday that Foutner had been on the phone talking to his wife at the time. He was a passenger in a vehicle behind Russell's vehicle.
According to defense attorney Mary Ward, Foutner had no intent of hurting anyone when he fired his pistol. In fact, she said, he fired randomly, all over the place, shooting up the Jeep he was in and striking a nearby special needs school bus.
Rather than murder, she said, Foutner is guilty of reckless homicide or voluntary manslaughter at most. Either crime carries decades less punishment if he's convicted.
Ward also acknowledged her client had a felony record for drugs at the time he used the gun, which is a felony itself.
Called by prosecutors Joanie Stewart and Sean Roberts, several witnesses told the jury they were near or close to the shooting when it happened.
Abby Paul, who works as a corrections officer for the Blount County Sheriff's Office, testified she was sitting in her vehicle at the intersection of Heiskell Avenue waiting to turn left onto North Central.
She said she heard about five gunshots. She looked over and saw a Black male running on the street toward a Jeep Cherokee. She also saw that a white van had wrecked nearby.
After the shooting, Russell's van crashed next to a pole in front of Compass Heating and Air Conditioning on Central. Paul said she checked on Russell and saw that she'd been shot behind the left ear and that a man was trying to tend to her.
Ashlynn Tackeberry testified she was riding in a Honda with friends and her sister that was parked in a lot to the south on Central. They'd gotten turned around while trying to drive to Sharp's Ridge, she said.
Tackeberry said she was sitting in the front passenger seat and could see easily over to a black Jeep to her right that was on Central. She told jurors she remembered seeing a Black male get out of the back passenger side with a gun.
Then she said she heard gunshots but didn't see the actual shooting. Then she said she recalled seeing the Black man get back in the Jeep. The van crashed, and the Jeep drove off.
A security camera still image showed Russell's white van on Central with a black Jeep behind it as well as the Honda in which Tackeberry sat in a parking lot just feet from the Jeep.
Testimony continues Tuesday in Knox County Criminal Court. Judge Steve Sword is presiding.