A Grundy County man had his case returned to the district trial court for reconsideration of consecutive sentences in the 2018 slaying of the mother of his children.
A jury convicted John Wesley Smith, 44, of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and eight counts of reckless endangerment, according to the appellate ruling. Circuit Court Judge Bradley Sherman sentenced Smith to life in prison plus 22 years for the slaying of his estranged wife and nonfatal shootings of two other people in the home where the incident occurred.
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeal affirmed the convictions but reversed the consecutive sentences ordered by Sherman and remanded them for reconsideration.
Smith was convicted of killing his former wife, Nicole Powell, and shooting her father, Jerome Powell, and her then-boyfriend, Gary Hurst, during an altercation that led to gunfire at a children’s birthday party Sept. 23, 2018, in Altamont, Tennessee.