NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A Tennessee jury deliberated less than two hours Tuesday before sentencing the man who shot up a Nashville church in 2017 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On Friday, the jury found Emanuel Kidega Samson guilty of murder in the death of Melanie Crow. Samson also injured seven others during his rampage and will be sentenced on an additional 42 counts in July, although those sentences will be largely symbolic.
During the sentencing phase of Samson’s trial on Tuesday, a psychiatrist testified Samson suffered from severe mental illness. That evidence had been suppressed during the guilt phase of the trial because it did not meet the criteria for an insanity defense
Forensic psychiatrist Stephen Montgomery found Samson’s illness did not make him unable to premediate his actions or stop him from appreciating their wrongfulness.
According to earlier testimony, on Sept. 24, 2017, Samson left his motor running as he stepped into the parking lot of the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ wearing a motorcycle-style clown mask and a tactical vest.