A man and woman charged in a September 2021 quadruple homicide in McMinn County's Riceville community will face the death penalty in separate trials starting early in 2024, according to court records.
Initially indicted together, Jazzmine Jacole Hall, 29, of Athens, and Curtis Donnell Smith, 40, of Etowah, face the death penalty on four counts each of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated arson in the Sept. 25, 2021, shooting on County Road 60. The district attorney's office filed a notice it would seek the death penalty against Hall and Smith on Jan. 10, 2022.
The 2021 shooting allegedly resulted in the slayings of Trevon Hall, 36, Skylar Hawn, 24, Jesse Dupree, 40, and Brandi Harris, 39, who were all found dead at the home in Riceville, according to previous reports and court records. Two other people in the house survived, one by escaping through a window and the other by playing dead.
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The killings stemmed from a dispute over Jazzmine Hall and Trevon Hall's baby, who was 10 months old at the time, McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy said at the beginning of the investigation.
McMinn County Sheriffs Office / Jazzmine J. Hall, 29, of Athens, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated arson.The separation of the two cases was granted on a defense motion by Criminal Court Judge Sandra Donaghy, court records state. The state opposed the motion, according to District Attorney Shari Tayloe.
"I fought against that," Tayloe said by phone about the separation of the two cases.
Splitting the two cases means witnesses could be required to testify at trial twice in 2024.
"No one wants to do that, but we really don't have a choice," Tayloe said.
Hall will be up for trial first, on April 15, according to court records. Smith's trial will take place Sept. 9.
Hall's attorneys are Chattanooga lawyer Bryan H. Hoss and Wenke West, a lawyer in Cleveland, court records show. Smith is represented by Knoxville lawyers Wesley Stone and Forest Wallace.
Contacted by phone Thursday, Hoss and Stone declined to comment on the case.
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Court affidavits in case records describe the scene.
The slayings happened sometime before 9 a.m. Sept. 25, 2021, at a home on sparsely populated County Road 60, a mile-long road that crosses Rogers Creek Ridge west of Interstate 75. Deputies answering the call found two people -- a man and a woman -- who had escaped the shooting, investigators said early in the case. The man escaped by climbing through a window, and the woman, who pretended to be injured and escaped, too, directed officers to the home where the shots were fired.
McMinn County Sheriffs Office / Curtis Donnell Smith, 40, of Etowah, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated arson.Hall was seen by one of the two surviving victims opening the door to the County Road 60 mobile home with a gun in hand. When she saw the father, Trevon Hall, holding the child, Jazzmine Hall took the infant and then shot the baby's father in the face, court records state.
Hall then handed the firearm to Smith and told him "to finish them off," according to court records.
The male witness told investigators Smith "began shooting everybody in the residence," records state. The woman told authorities when Smith allegedly shot at her, she played dead.
According to court documents, Hall and Smith took the child, started a fire and fled the scene of the shooting in a red pickup truck. Authorities later recovered the baby and turned the child over to the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
Hall and Smith were arrested and the baby was recovered in Polk County later the same day by McMinn and Polk deputies, drug task force agents and members of the U.S. Marshals Service, according to authorities. Hall and Smith have remained in custody since their arrests.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.