Smoot sentenced to life without parole in girlfriend's killing

Shawn Smoot enters the courtroom following a break as his first degree murder trial continues before Judge Jeff Wicks in Kingston Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Smoot is accused of killing Brooke Morris, whose body was found in October of 2011 in Roane County. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)
Shawn Smoot enters the courtroom following a break as his first degree murder trial continues before Judge Jeff Wicks in Kingston Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Smoot is accused of killing Brooke Morris, whose body was found in October of 2011 in Roane County. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)

KINGSTON - A life sentence without the possibility of parole imposed on convicted killer Shawn Smoot by a Roane County jury Thursday brought justice, his victim's mother said, if not closure.

"There will never be closure," said Tina Gregg, whose daughter, Brooke Nicole Morrris, was gunned down by Smoot, an ex-boyfriend, on a rural Roane County road Oct. 15, 2011. "What's closure? Brooke will never be back. She's never there at Christmas, she's never there for Mother's Day, birthdays.

"The only good thing that came out of this trial is that he's going to prison for many, many years. But closure? No."

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