In online court records, a 39-year-old man is accused of killing the same two people twice, but officials have clarified that a clerical error led to duplicate murder charges.
Cornealious Lebron Beasley was arrested Monday by the Chattanooga Police Department and charged with four counts of first-degree murder for alleged offenses that happened Dec. 1, 2020, according to online court records. Two of those counts will be dismissed once the case gets to court, Executive Assistant District Attorney Andrew Coyle said by text.
“Basically, there was a clerical error on the original warrants and out of an abundance of caution, law enforcement did the right thing and refiled the warrants correcting the issue,” Coyle said by text.
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Beasley is being prosecuted in connection with two homicides that occurred within 24 hours in 2020, Coyle said. Beasley is a codefendant to Khavell Mailik Williams, 30, who was arrested in July and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the same incident.
A press release distributed at the time of Williams’ arrest said the two victims were shot and killed in different homes on the same day, one street away from each other.
Early Dec. 1, 2020, Russell Paris, 61, was found with a gunshot wound outside his home at the 1700 block of South Kelly Street. He later died at a hospital.
Later that evening, police found Gloria Hill, 66, dead at her house in the 1700 block of South Willow Street.
Michael Dempsey, deputy clerk with the Hamilton County General Sessions Court, said by phone that the affidavit in Beasley’s case is sealed. Deputy clerks are not told why affidavits are sealed, he said.
Coyle said ethical rules prevented him from sharing information about the sealing of the affidavit and information that could affect future jurors in Beasley’s case. He said by text that affidavits can generally be sealed to protect sensitive information about victims, witnesses or minors.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga man accused of killing Bianca Horton stands trial)
Contact breaking news reporter Mason Edwards at medwards@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6409.