A Hixson, Tennessee, man was sentenced to prison for shooting a man who was sleeping in his truck.
Michael Sean Conner, 28, was sentenced to 28 years in prison for a violent carjacking he attempted in Adairsville, Georgia.
His 28 years of federal confinement are to be followed by three years of supervised release. The federal sentence will run consecutively to a sentence he is serving in Tennessee for another carjacking. Conner had previously pleaded guilty to the carjacking offense in Tennessee and received a sentence of seven years of confinement.
On May 7, 2018, a young man unknown to Conner was driving home to Florida after attending a wedding in Tennessee. The man had stopped to take a nap in Adairsville, Georgia.
Conner and two women – Kristy Lynn Davis, 38, of Summerville, Georgia, and Destany Schubert, 22, of Fort Oglethorpe – pulled beside the victim. Conner tapped on the window of the man’s truck, pointed a gun at him and demanded that he give up the vehicle, according to U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.
Conner then shot the man in the chest as the driver tried to roll up his window to back away from Conner. The victim is now paralyzed from the chest down.
Davis pleaded guilty to acting as Conner’s accessory and was sentenced to three years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Schubert also pleaded guilty and received a sentence of 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Pak called the shooting a “senseless and depraved act.”
“[Conner’s] callous disregard for the lives of others justifies the very lengthy prison sentence he received in this case,” Pak said in a statement released by the Northern District of Georgia. “Our office is grateful for the careful coordination of our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners whose collaboration ensured the success of this prosecution.”
Arthur Peralta, a special agent with ATF Atlanta, said Conner’s sentence can never fully account for the suffering he inflicted on his victims and said the work law enforcement has done will ensure that Conner “will not have an opportunity to hurt anyone else for a very long time.”
Conner and his female passengers were charged with the crime after Conner’s arrest for committing another armed carjacking in Tennessee within hours of the offense in Georgia.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Adairsville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine M. Hoffer prosecuted the case.
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Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.
Michael Sean Conner