Before she knew what happened to her daughter’s two children, before Taylor Satterfield was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, Amy Smartt was the first person to arrive at Erlanger hospital on the morning of May 13, 2014.
There, Smartt heard the only update she would receive for hours about her 20-year-old daughter: Keiara Patton was brain dead after a single gunshot to the head. She would remain that way until her death later that day.
Amy Smartt, mother of the late Kiera Patton, becomes emotional while testifying against Taylor Satterfield while in Judge Don Poole’s Division III Criminal Court on Sept. 12, 2016.The mother shared those memories Monday in Hamilton County Criminal Court during Taylor Satterfield’s sentencing hearing. After a dramatic trial in July, a jury convicted the 22-year-old father of second-degree murder. After Monday’s emotional hearing, he received a 22-year sentence in the Tennessee Department of Correction without the opportunity for parole. He faced a maximum of 25 years, since he wasn’t a convicted felon before the shooting.
Though she could not be reached for comment afterward, Smartt read an open letter in court, thanking the prosecutors and detectives who reassured her throughout the criminal justice process. Then she mentioned the psychological effect acts of violence have had on the children she is raising.
“It doesn’t take a scientist to know the damage you did to both of them,” Smartt said. “I just thank God where your son, Taylor Jr. slept, only 17 months old. His bed was located right above where you all were. He was in the direction you shot in. Thank God that bullet did not go upstairs.”