Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark said that a Tennessee man who kidnapped, raped, and abused a woman before strangling her to death has been given the death penalty.
Several news outlets, such as the Oak Ridger, WATE, and WBIR, say that Sean Finnegan, 56, was found guilty of several crimes related to the death of Jennifer Gail Paxton, 35. These crimes include first-degree murder, aggravated rape, and abuse of a body.
Police said Finnegan took Paxton hostage in December 2019 and kept her in his Oak Ridge apartment. There, he raped and beat her several times before suffocating her to death.
A woman named Rebecca Dishman, who was either dating or engaged to Finnegan, told police that he choked Paxton with string over a long period, stopping to smoke in between.
Prosecutors told WVLT that the couple then wrapped Paxton in trash bags and put her body in a freezer. Finnegan put her body in a freezer in the bedroom until the cops came to search his house in August 2020. Then, authorities say, he put Paxton’s body under his bed.
It is said that Dishman admitted to first-degree murder in 2023. She testified against Finnegan in exchange for a life sentence, which kept her from being put to death.
WATE reported that Finnegan was given the death sentence because of how horrible the murder was and how aware he was of what he had done.
Clark, the district attorney, said in a statement after the punishment, “Our thoughts and prayers are with Jennifer Paxton’s family members who have had to go through this horrible process and hear about her last days of being held captive, tortured, and killed.” They have been brave, strong, and helpful the whole time.
In her statement, Clark also said, “It is hoped that with the jury’s verdict and the end of this case, Jennifer’s family can find some peace and healing from this nightmare.”
Finnegan was given a lethal shot sentence. But Darrell Winfree, an attorney for Legal Aid of East Tennessee, told 10WBIR that he’s most likely going to die of natural causes before he is put to death.
Winfree told the news outlet that the appeals process could take decades and that people on death row usually have worse health care than people who are not in jail.
Winfree told the news source, “It looks like it would be straightforward to end someone’s life.” “But it is a very extended process, a costly process, and a very complicated process.”
In Tennessee, the last time someone was put to death by fatal injection was in 2021. But in 2022, Governor Bill Lee put an end to fatal injection executions in the state. They have not been held again.
Call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org if you or someone you know has been sexually attacked.
+ There are no comments
Add yours