The jury returns on Monday to decide the fate of Sean Finnegan, accused of murder

Witness testimony has ended and a jury is deciding whether to convict Sean Shannon Finnegan, 56, of Oak Ridge of first-degree murder, aggravated rape and a number of other crimes in the slaying of Jennifer Gail Paxton in age 36 years. He is accused. killing the woman and placing her in a freezer for eight to nine months, as well as mutilating her body and raping her.

The jury met Saturday in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton and deliberated for several hours before adjourning Monday for more deliberations. The work of the jury will begin at 8:30

Judge Don Ash selected four jurors to serve as alternates. The two men and two women are now kept away from the other 12 jurors who make up the jury, but will be available if any of the jurors fall ill before a verdict is reached. The 12-member jury consists of six women and six men, all white, most of whom appear to be middle-aged or younger.

After jurors left the courtroom Saturday to begin deliberations, Ash allowed three of Jennifer Gail Paxton’s cousins to read their printed impact statements aloud. Anderson County Assistant District Attorney Kevin Allen, who along with Assistant District Attorney Sarah Winningham Keith is prosecuting the case against Finnegan, said jurors will hear those statements if Finnegan is convicted of first-degree murder, followed by the jury who must decide whether to give him the death penalty, which the General Prosecutor’s Office requests.

Each of the cousins became emotional as their statements were read, at one point some family members chose to leave the courtroom, appearing emotional themselves.

Beverly Jeffers told how family members searched for Paxton for months. Brittany Payne, who testified Aug. 13 that Paxton was like a sister to her growing up, said she last saw her around Thanksgiving 2019. Jeffers said on Aug. 6, 2020, Paxton’s mother, Patty, he got the call he was hoping to see. you never understand – that her daughter was dead. Jeffers said Patty called her afterward, so devastated that Jeffers couldn’t understand what Patty was saying.

Paxton’s mother died earlier this year.

“He died of a broken heart,” Jeffers said, adding that she and the other family members in court — all women — promised to be in court every day to show people that Paxton is loved.

Michelle McMahan, who described herself as Patty’s first cousin, said Paxton was kind and loving but had a hard life and couldn’t seem to “make peace and move on from it.” The middle child and only daughter, Paxton made a number of mistakes, she said. Those mistakes were described in testimony by family members and attorneys in the week-long case: She lost custody of her seven children, became addicted to drugs, especially heroin, was homeless and prostituted herself to support herself. she and in her drug habit.

“He trusted too easily and too much,” McMahan said.

Patty would say she made a lot of mistakes raising Paxton, McMahan said. The cousin said that was one of the reasons why Paxton would go to her grandmother.

“She felt love with her grandmother,” McMahan said.

She was also the grandmother that the homeless Paxton visited monthly and asked for money, Paxton’s aunt, Beverly Payne, testified last week. Grandma was the one who called Jeffers almost every day to find out if anyone in the family had found her.

McMahan said she spent a lot of time with Paxton’s mother before she died, and that every night the woman had nightmares of her daughter crying out in pain or begging for mercy.

Speaking to McMahan after her statement, Judge Ash said: “Jennifer is in a much better place (now).”

Closing statements from both sides

In closing arguments Friday, prosecutors asked jurors to convict Finnegan of murder, rape, kidnapping and all 13 counts he is charged with in connection with Paxton’s death.

But attorney Christopher “Kit” Rodgers, who represents Finnegan along with attorney Forrest Wallace, said there are unknowns in the state’s case, such as the exact dates of when the alleged crimes took place, and despite that, “you he asks. to condemn him for all these crimes and put him to death.”

Alluding to Allen’s closing statement, which began by telling jurors to use common sense, Rodgers said attorneys in the DA’s office equated common sense to “There’s a dead girl and a body. It must be that creepy guy over there (Finnegan).”

Rodgers, in his opening and closing statements, pointed the finger for many of the crimes Finnegan is accused of at the women lawyers described as either Finnegan’s fiancee or friend — Rebecca Dishman, 26, who received a sentence of life in prison last year after pleading guilty to first…degree murder as part of a plea deal. Shortly after Dishman and Finnegan were charged, Attorney General Dave Clark said he would seek the death penalty against both. The two have remained in the Anderson County Jail in Clinton since their arrests in early August 2020 for the crimes, which deputy prosecutors, through statements and witness testimony, said occurred before Dec. 31, 2019.

Keith spoke Friday about Dishman being “thrown under the bus” by Finnegan, who told authorities he didn’t kill Paxton but put her in a freezer to protect Dishman. Jurors on Friday watched a video from August 2020 of Finnegan being questioned by two Oak Ridge police officers. In the video, which had poor audio quality, Finnegan could still be heard defending his actions.

“I didn’t know what to do, I was scared,” he said. “I didn’t kill that girl.”

Finnegan told Oak Ridge Police Capt. Mike Uher, who has retired since the August 2020 interview, and then Sgt. Marvell Moore that he brought Paxton to his home on Fairview Road in Oak Ridge for sex. He said that after sex in his upstairs bedroom, he wanted to go to the bathroom and she wanted to take a shower. He said Paxton left the bathroom and went downstairs and then heard a noise. He said he ran downstairs to find that Dishman, who lived with him and his now-deceased mother, had hit Paxton with a baseball bat.

“I don’t know what got into her that day,” he said of Dishman.

He said he asked why she did that and she said she didn’t know, that something got over her.

Finnegan said Dishman cleaned up the blood from the attack and they all went upstairs. He said Dishman used chains to restrain Paxton to the bed.

Finnegan, who worked as a cook at a bar in Knoxville, said he came home on a different day to find Paxton dead.

Assistant prosecutors talked about how Dishman, who testified against Finnegan on Aug. 13, recounted how Finnegan slowly choked Paxton to death, pausing and stopping to smoke. Keith also recounted that Paxton’s body had many cuts, including an “S” carved into the buttocks or hips.

Allen said Paxton was defiled, beaten, choked and raped by Finnegan.

But Finnegan’s attorney said jurors must look to who would have intended, needed or wanted Paxton dead, the person who spent most of the day at home with Paxton while Finnegan worked 12-hour shifts hours or more and that person was Dishman.

Lawyers on both sides talked about how Dishman openly told the courtroom he loved Satanism, was a Wiccan and was a “cutter,” cutting himself as a coping mechanism. Also speaking about Dishman, Keith also said: “He was into kinky sex,” with Rodgers saying he brought his own sex toys when he moved in with Finnegan after meeting him on Facebook.

Allen said Finnegan’s statements showed him to be deceitful and a liar. He said Finnegan could have thrown Paxton’s body off the Solway Bridge but chose to keep it.

“This woman in his freezer was his trophy,” Allen said. “That’s why he kept her there.”

Finnegan faces charges of murder, aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and more. In his only hearing since the trial began, Finnegan told Judge Ash that he had waived his right to testify.

Oak Ridger News Editor Donna Smith covers news in the Oak Ridge area. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @ridgernewsed.

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The jury returns on Monday to decide the fate of Sean Finnegan, accused of murder

Closing statements from both sides

By Matthew. Jr

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