A Chattanooga man who fatally shot prominent businessman Chris Wright downtown was sentenced Monday to the maximum sentence of 90 years in prison after decades of breaking the law on dozens of occasions.
Darryl Roberts, 59, was found guilty in April of second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Wright, 38, was shot in the head outside Patten Towers shortly before midnight on Sept. 28, 2023, as he walked away from Roberts.
Several of Wright’s family members and friends described him as a warm, loving, fun and humble man during a nearly four-hour sentencing hearing in front of Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson. At one point, prosecutors asked all of Wright’s supporters in the courtroom to stand, showing they took up almost the entire audience.
During Roberts’ trial, his defense team drew attention to the last hour of Wright’s life to create negative viewpoints about him, his mother, Janet Wright, said during a victim impact statement.