As jury selection was about to begin Monday, one of two defendants in a death penalty trial in McMinn County Criminal Court pleaded guilty to a September 2021 quadruple homicide and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison.
Jazzmine Jacole Hall, 29, of Athens, was facing trial Monday on four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated arson in the 2021, shooting deaths of Trevon Hall, Skylar Hawn, Jesse Dupree and Brandi Harris, according to court records. All four were found dead at a home in Riceville stemming from an altercation over the 10-month-old child of Jazzmine Hall and shooting victim Trevon Hall. The baby was recovered and two other people in the house survived, one by escaping through a window and the other by playing dead.
Hall was sentenced Monday to four life terms with no chance of release, according to District Attorney General Shari Tayloe. In a standard murder conviction, a life sentence under Tennessee law is 51 years before there is any eligibility for parole, but Hall's plea arrangement does not include terms for release.
"It's four, true life sentences," Tayloe said via text following the plea. "There is no release ever."
Hall was charged along with her co-defendant in the case, Curtis Donnel Smith, of Etowah. Smith, 41, also faces the death penalty in a trial set for Sept. 9, according to court records.
"This case has been very difficult for the victims' families," Tayloe said. "Today they received some justice for the murder of their loved ones at the hands of the defendant. I appreciate the McMinn County Sheriff's Office, TBI, Drug Task Force, the Polk County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Marshals Service working together to facilitate the successful prosecution of the case."
'One of the worst'
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 in southern McMinn County. Deputies answering the call found two people, a man and a woman, who had escaped the shooting, according to court records. The man escaped by climbing through a window, and the woman, who pretended to be injured and escaped, directed officers to the home where the shots were fired.
(READ MORE: McMinn County quadruple murder cases bound over to grand jury)
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 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.
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. Authorities turned the child over to the Tennessee Department of Children's Services. Hall and Smith have remained in custody since their arrests.
At the time of the arrests, McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy called the slayings "one of the worst homicides in McMinn County history."
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.