KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Update (4/21): Desmon Rhea was found guilty of the first-degree murders of Millie Blackwell and Barbara Rogers. He was also found guilty of the second-degree murder of Juliana White after a meth-fueled murder spree.
The jury also decided unanimously that he should spend life in prison without any chance for parole for the killings of both Mildred Blackwell and Barbara Rogers after around two hours of deliberation.
Rhea shot and killed them in March 2020 while they were in their bedrooms, in a house they shared on Trousdale Road. Blackwell was asleep at the time, and Rogers may have been asleep and startled awake when Rhea fired at her. He failed to kill her then, but took her life moments later as she tried to get 911 operators to send help.
He kicked open her door and shot her in the head.
Earlier Friday afternoon jurors also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of Juliana White, who was Blackwell's daughter. He killed her first on the night of March 8, 2020, while driving around with her in her rental car. He shot her in the abdomen as she sat in the backseat and then dumped her body in the road at Liberty and Division streets.
Then, prosecutors say, he headed to Trousdale Road where he'd been living and fired his .45-caliber Ruger pistol at Blackwell and Rogers.
Following the jury's decision Friday in the deaths of Blackwell and Rogers, Knox County Criminal Court Judge Scott Green formally imposed the life sentences. But Green still must sentence Rhea for White's death and for a couple of other crimes.
Green set June 29 for that hearing.
Prosecutors Leland Price and Cameron Williams will almost certainly seek even more time for Rhea. Defense attorney Wade Davies has repeatedly argued Rhea should have a chance at a new life, and he will get another opportunity to make his case in June.
Davies also will seek a new trial for his client.
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The fate of a Knoxville man charged with murdering his girlfriend, his girlfriend's mother and the mother's housemate in one violent spree in March 2020 is now in the hands of a Knox County jury.
The defense and prosecution finished their closing arguments to the 10 women and two about 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Knox County Criminal Court. They took a lunch break and then heard the court's instructions on how to apply the law in Desmon Rhea's case.
After deliberating Thursday afternoon, they were sent home for the night. They're expected to resume deliberations late Friday morning.
The state accuses Rhea, 27, of three counts of premeditated murder, among other charges. If the jury convicts him of first-degree murder, that will trigger a second phase of the trial because prosecutors want to put Rhea away for life with no chance for parole.
In such circumstances, similar to when the state seeks the death penalty, the state and the defense get to put on proof in front of the jury, which must decide if the punishment is appropriate.
Knox County Deputy District Attorney General Leland Price and Assistant District Attorney General Cameron Williams have portrayed Rhea as a meth-scrambled, manipulative, cold man who shot and killed the women in a fit the night of March 8, 2020.
White was killed as Rhea drove her and a young man named Jaquan Whitson around Knoxville in White's rented Nissan. White held a job and supported her daughter and Rhea, who lived in a Trousdale Road home with White, her mother Millie Blackwell and her mother's friend Barbara Rogers.
White and Rhea lived in the basement; the older women lived upstairs.
Whitson told jurors this week he was wearing headphones and looking out the car window when Rhea shot and killed White as she sat in the right back passenger seat. He then stopped the car and dragged her out, leaving her on the street in the freezing night.
White wanted to try to improve her relationship with Rhea, a frequent meth user, testimony has shown. Rhea nurtured a small group of young associates, providing drugs at times for them to use in the basement at Trousdale Road, testimony showed.
Authorities think a .45-caliber gun was used to shoot the women. No murder weapon was found, but an exam of Rhea's cellphone revealed photos of such a firearm.
Authorities also found texts to and from Rhea the weekend of the killings. In one about 5 a.m. March 8, he wrote, "im on a spree."
As dawn approached that day, he downloaded an app in an attempt to track police scanner traffic, Price reminded jurors.
White's cellphone disappeared the night she was killed. Whitson told jurors Rhea threw it away after shooting White, dumping her body on Division Street near Liberty and leaving her to die.
Defense attorney Wade Davies told jurors Thursday the entire investigation was the result of a rush to prosecute his client and only his client.
The man jurors really should look at is Whitson, Davies argued, as he attempted to raise doubts about the case against Rhea. Whitson has told multiple stories about what happened the night of the shootings, he said, all in an attempt to escape blame himself.
Davies also pointed out what he said were lapses in the Knoxville Police Department's investigation, including the fact they lost swabs collected from a Ruger ammunition magazine that could have shown who handled it and the release of White's rental car before it was thoroughly scrutinized.
"The state didn't even try to send off forensic evidence for over a year and a half," he said.