A young husband’s “very personal” killing of his wife with his bare hands elicited raw emotions Monday as he learned he would spend the next 20 years of his life in prison.
The father of defendant Kenneth Gann, 25, wept so loudly at the final judgment that he had to leave the courtroom, while the family of victim Robyn Burns Gann chose to let a victim impact statement speak for itself rather than testify in person about their loss.
“The cruelest thing about her senseless murder is that it cut short a life with so much to give to the world,” the victim’s mother, Donna Burns, wrote in a letter to Hamitlon County Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman. “Robyn had so much potential that she was only beginning to realize.”
Mrs. Gann, also 25, was estranged from her husband, and she was planning to leave with their child when her husband strangled her to death in the couple’s Hixson home in March 2008 during an apparent argument. Mr. Gann tried to commit suicide immediately after by placing a bag over his head, but police found him in time to save his life.
PDF: Victim impact statement
He confessed to the killing less than 24 hours later from his hospital bed, telling police he simply “snapped” and couldn’t stop even though he knew his actions were wrong. It took about four minutes for Mrs. Gann to die, and Mr. Gann used a pillow to “speed it up,” he told police.
A jury in February convicted Mr. Gann of second-degree murder, meaning that while he may have known what he was doing, the jury did not believe he acted with any sort of premeditation. The conviction meant Mr. Gann faced a sentencing range of 15 to 25 years at his sentencing hearing Monday rather than a mandatory life sentence had he been convicted of first-degree premeditated murder.
Because Mr. Gann has no prior criminal history, he will be eligible for parole after serving 85 percent of the sentence.
Judge Barry Steelman reiterated Monday that it was inappropriate to allow the victim impact statement to sway his sentencing decision, but he also made it known that the way Mrs. Gann died was an important consideration in choosing not to sentence the defendant at the lower end of the range.
“When a person does take his or her hands and put his hands on somebody else’s throat until the life, breath, leaves that person, then that is an act that … carries a lot of weight,” Judge Steelman said.
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