Hamilton County jurors will hear closing arguments today in a 2015 case in which a 51-year-old man was beaten in a living room and hauled to his eventual death in a Soddy-Daisy graveyard.
Prosecutors say Chad Massengale should spend life in prison for attacking Tony Rector at 10965 Dallas Hollow Road with two friends and then stomping on his head at Soddy Presbyterian Cemetery on Dec. 28, 2015.
Since Tuesday, they have sought to convince jurors that a first-degree murder verdict is appropriate, while Massengale’s co-defendants, Dekota Burchard and Roy Henderson, remain in custody on the same charge.
Defense attorneys don’t dispute Massengale participated in the beatdown, they just want jurors to find the 31-year-old Hixson man guilty of a lesser charge because they say Rector’s death wasn’t premeditated.
This week they have suggested Massengale’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, Tiffany Sneed, also hit Rector with a tire tool in an effort to shift blame among all parties. And Thursday was no exception.