Jessica Kennedy talks with her defense attorney, John Eldridge, during her trial in the slaying of Jim Miller in Monroe County Criminal Court.The woman convicted of helping others kill and rob prominent Sweetwater farmer, businessman and political figure Jim Miller has asked the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals for a new trial.
Jessica Kennedy, now 30, is so far the only person ever charged in a crime that authorities always said must have involved other participants.
Miller, 60, was chairman of the Monroe County Election Commission when he was killed on July 17, 2010, during what authorities said was a robbery.
Miller was at a home on Creek Road when he was shot in the head three times and his body stuffed inside the trunk of his car, which was discovered later that day at an isolated spot engulfed in flames.
Kennedy was charged with felony murder, aggravated robbery, arson and abuse of a corpse. A jury convicted her only of lesser offenses of facilitation of those crimes.