The sixth of seven defendants in a Franklin County hanging has been sentenced to prison on charges of murder and kidnapping.
Bryan Ray Dudley, found guilty by a Franklin County jury in August, was sentenced to life in prison plus 35 years for his role in the slaying of Tullahoma resident David Steele, 33.
Steele’s body was found shot and hanging from a tree near the Franklin-Coffee county line on Oct. 26, 2017, according to court records.
Dudley was sentenced at a Sept. 25 hearing on his Aug. 16 jury conviction on charges of first-degree murder and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, according to court documents. The sentence was ordered by Circuit Court Judge John H. Cameron Jr.
Dudley is the only defendant in the case to be tried in Franklin County, 12th Judicial District Attorney Courtney C. Lynch said in August. The 12th Judicial District is composed of Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Rhea and Sequatchie counties.
“We are pleased with the guilty verdicts and consecutive sentencing,” Lynch said Tuesday via email. “The community will be protected from further acts of violence by Mr. Dudley. We recognize that no sentence can fill the void or erase the pain felt by Mr. David Steele’s family.”
Winchester, Tennessee, attorney Greg O’Neal, Dudley’s legal counsel, said the case isn’t over yet.
“He wants to appeal both the conviction and the sentencing, and that’s in the works,” O’Neal said in a phone interview.
O’Neal declined to comment further.
(READ MORE: One dead, one jailed in Franklin County homicide)
Five other defendants – each having different levels of involvement in the slaying – entered guilty pleas in the case over the past several years, Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott said by phone in August. They were all sentenced to prison time ranging from eight to 25 years.
“All these cases were resolved after much discussion and agreement with David Steele’s family,” Northcott said in August. “They attended each one of these plea hearings and gave a victim impact statement.”
The last defendant, Miguel “Cino” Sanders, 52, has not been tried yet. He faces a date in a Coffee County jury trial Feb. 24. He is charged with first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, tampering with evidence, coercion of a witness and employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, Northcott said.
Officials in Lynch’s office in August said jurisdiction in the case wasn’t fully determined until evidence emerged to place defendants in different locations. Dudley was originally charged in Coffee County, but investigators later found he never went to Coffee County, where the deadly incident began at Dossett Apartments.
Sentencing documents spell out the legal grounds for consecutive sentencing on the murder and kidnapping counts, which contains requirements that a defendant be found to have no regard for human life and other aggravating factors. The documents also paint a grisly picture of Steele’s death.
According to a sentencing brief, Dudley decided to drive into a wooded area in Franklin County where he “beat and then hung the victim, taking extra care in the tying of multiple knots in the rope used in the perpetration of this crime,” the sentencing brief states. “He agreed to meet with codefendants to finish a crime that began in Coffee County. Even after the initial meeting, he got in the truck where Mr. Steele was in the bed and drove that truck instead of his own to an isolated area. At that point, he and a codefendant dragged the victim from the truck into the woods, where he was beaten more and hung from a tree in such a way to inflict maximum suffering.”
Prosecutors said Dudley hung Steele “in such a way as to make death not be instantaneous but to draw out the torture of knowing one is dying,” the brief states. “Furthermore, he took the time to ensure that the victim was secured by tying three knots in the execution of the murder.”
Dudley killed Steele “in such a manner as to permanently affect his family for the rest of their lives,” the brief states. “The defendant had no connection to David Steele, the victim, but decided to help his codefendants in the coverup of a crime. The callousness of the choices and actions of the defendant make it necessary to impose consecutive sentences to protect society from his further bad acts. Clearly, the defendant has little regard for society and poses a danger to even those with no connection to him.”
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Cameron ordered a sentence of life on the murder count – which in Tennessee means 51 years before a defendant becomes eligible for parole – plus 35 years for the kidnapping counts, effectively making Dudley’s term behind bars an 86-year stretch, according to court documents. Dudley’s sentence allows for potential early release after serving 85% of his full sentence, or about 75 years, if he lives to around 125. He was given credit for having already served four years, eight months and 16 days in jail prior to his sentencing hearing.
Steele – who was reported missing in Franklin County on Oct. 3, 2017 – was first detained at his home near the apartment complex in Tullahoma in Coffee County, Northcott said during the initial investigation. Steele was shot when he tried to escape and then was taken just across the Franklin County line where he was hanged. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and local investigators found Steele’s body in the area of Spring Creek Road and UTSI Road – named for the University of Tennessee Space Institute on the north shore of Woods Reservoir.
The medical examiner’s findings in an autopsy showed Steele died of asphyxiation with a contributory cause of a gunshot wound to his leg, authorities said in 2017.
According to his obituary, Steele was a father of four and a handyman who worked as a general contractor and enjoyed fishing, hunting and playing sports with his children.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.
Staff Photo / The Franklin County Jail, shown here in 2011, is just south of downtown Winchester, Tenn.