Chattanooga fugitive, among state's top 10 most wanted, caught in Knoxville

Jereme Little is escorted into Judge Rebecca Stern's courtroom in 2008.
Jereme Little is escorted into Judge Rebecca Stern's courtroom in 2008.

A Chattanooga fugitive, and one of Tennessee's top 10 most wanted, was caught Monday at a Knoxville home.

But the tale of how he came to be on the loose is unusual.

Officials previously released Jereme Little after the convicted kidnapper had spent seven years in prison because his 2008 conviction was overturned.

But an appeals court ruled a year later that his kidnapping conviction should stand, and he was called back to prison to serve the remainder of his 18-year sentence.

He never showed up, so Little, 41, was added to the TBI's Top 10 Most Wanted list in August.

Little was arrested on Monday at a Knoxville house on Burns Road by TBI special agents, members of the U.S. Marshals service, and deputies from Knox County.

He is being held in the Knox County Jail.

Little was first arrested in 2005 in a case dating back to 1998 in which the victim said he was kidnapped and tortured by Little.

Prosecutors said the incident began when Little and Demetrius Grayson planned to rob Chris Rogers at the man's home. Grayson testified that Little wanted to kill Rogers so Grayson left, but Little tied him up, holding him hostage and forcing him to eat crack cocaine and dog feces.

Grayson said he escaped from Little and finally reported the crime seven years later.

Prior to his conviction in 2008, Little had already built up a lengthy criminal record in Hamilton County, including charges ranging from possession of crack cocaine to aggravated burglary.

He was also acquitted in a separate murder trial in which the mother of his unborn child accused him of beating her and causing the child's death. He was tried twice on a 2001 murder charge in the death of Tony McAfee, but both trials ended in hung juries.

Because of his previous offenses, then-Judge Rebecca Stern sentenced Little to 18 years in prison on a charge of especially aggravated kidnapping in the case involving Grayson.

In 2012, Little appealed his conviction to the Tennessee Supreme Court. A year later, the court upheld the conviction.

Little didn't give up.

With attorney Levitt, Little filed a post-conviction petition for relief.

A successful post-relief conviction must show two things, Levitt said: That a defendant had ineffective counsel during a trial and that said counsel resulted in prejudice.

In May 2015, before she left the bench, Judge Stern said a different attorney, Jeffrey Schaarschmidt, provided counsel that ultimately affected the outcome of Little's trial.

She called it "the messiest trial" she had ever sat through in 18 years.

The move effectively overturned his 2008 conviction, setting Little free. State prosecutors, however, didn't agree with Stern's finding and appealed it to a higher court, Levitt said.

At 4:40 p.m. on Friday, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts released a written opinion from that appeal which ultimately overturned Stern's ruling for post-conviction relief.

In that opinion, Judges Kelly Thomas Jr., Thomas Woodall and James Curwood Witt Jr. agreed with the state and wrote that they believed Little's counsel had failed to prove prejudice in his case.

"Based on the foregoing and the record as a whole, the judgment of the post-conviction court is reversed, and the Petitioner's conviction for especially aggravated kidnapping is reinstated," the conclusion read.

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