A 61-year-old man in Tennessee will spend the rest of his life in jail for killing a 42-year-old man who was dating his niece. He shot the man many times and then said that his handgun went off “accidentally.”
Authorities announced Thursday that Johnny Robert McBee was given a life sentence in state prison by Judge Steven W. Sword for the murder of Jerome Nance in 2022.
As per a news release from the District Attorney’s Office, McBee, who has been found guilty of six felonies before, was found guilty of first-degree murder and having a gun without a permit. He has been convicted of armed robbery, assault with intent to kill, and burglary in the past.
As soon as the decision was announced, Sword gave the life sentence.
The Major Crimes Unit’s prosecutors told the jury what led to Nance’s “senseless” death throughout the three-day hearing.
In the Oakwood area on the 900 block of Atlantic Avenue on the afternoon of January 30, 2022, the Knoxville Police Department was called to a report of a gunshot. Detectives say that the investigation found that McBee and Nance fought earlier in the day over Nance’s relationship with McBee’s niece. Prosecutors say that McBee threatened to kill Nance during the fight.
“When both men got to the address on Atlantic Avenue, McBee got out of his car carrying a revolver,” the news release said. “McBee killed the victim with three shots fired when he got out of his car.”
After the terrible shooting, McBee left before the cops got there.
During the trial, McBee said that “the revolver accidentally discharged three times,” but the jury eventually didn’t believe him.
DA Charme Allen said in a statement made after the hearings, “This is another senseless loss of life where a verbal argument got worse because a career criminal pulled a gun.”
Tennessee law says that McBee has to spend at least 51 years in prison before he can talk to the parole board about getting out.
