The conviction of one of four men jailed in the March 2013 beating death of a Cowan, Tenn., man whose body was found in a Franklin County cornfield was upheld by the Tennessee Criminal Court of Appeals.
Gordon David Jenkins, 48 when he was convicted in May 2015, is the only one of the four defendants to take his first-degree murder case before a jury. The jury found Jenkins guilty after less than two hours of deliberation during a four-day trial in Winchester, Tenn., just a few miles from the site where 26-year-old victim Corey N. Matthews' body was found.
This undated photo provided by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shows David Gordon Jenkins. Authorities are looking for Jenkins, 46, one of 4 suspects in the April beating death of a 26-year-old volunteer firefighter trying to distance himself from a white-supremacist group. Three members of Aryan Nations are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, May 8, 2013 on murder charges, while Jenkins, affiliated with another white supremacist gang, is on the run. (AP Photo/Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
Jenkins was sentenced to life in prison.
His co-defendants, John Corey Lanier, 26, Todd E. Dalton, 39, and Coty Keith Holmes, 25, each pleaded guilty in their cases.
Dalton pleaded guilty in March last year to facilitating first-degree murder on the day his trial was set to start in Franklin County Circuit Court. Dalton was sentenced to 25 years in prison on his plea.
Holmes, in exchange for his testimony in Jenkins' trial, reached a plea agreement in which he would plead guilty to aggravated assault, robbery and kidnapping with an effective sentence of 15 years, with three years to be served in confinement and the remainder to be served on probation, according to court documents.
Lanier reached a plea agreement in which he would receive a 15-year sentence, of which he would serve three years in confinement in exchange for his testimony at the Jenkins' trial, documents state.
Details in the court record paint a jarringly violent end for the victim.
Matthews left his home in Cowan on March 23, 2013, with plans to return home by 2:30 p.m., but he didn't show up until 7 or 7:30 p.m. when he arrived with Dalton. Also at the home at the time were Jenkins, Lanier and Holmes. According to testimony, the foursome left with a black portfolio that contained Aryan Nation symbols and information of the group's rules, its members and their ranks and their phone numbers, records state.
Holmes testified that earlier that morning, he and Dalton discussed kicking Matthews out of the Aryan Nation because he'd supposedly been talking to police.
Holmes said he understood the victim would receive a "beat-out" and that the victim's "patch" or tattoo would be "covered." Holmes explained that the victim's tattoo would either be cut or covered with another tattoo.
Jenkins arrived at Dalton's shop at about 1 p.m., and Jenkins, Dalton and Holmes drank beer and moonshine. Dalton, Holmes and Jenkins soon left the shop in Dalton's truck. Holmes testified that before they left, Jenkins retrieved a ball-peen hammer from the back of his truck, and then they picked up Lanier from his home and bought more beer, records state.
The four men and Matthews stopped briefly at the victim's home before ending up at a cemetery a few minutes away from Matthews' home. At least for a time, they stood at the back of Dalton's pickup truck drinking beer, documents state.
Then Matthews was pushed into Holmes, who went to the ground with Matthews while punching him. Four of the men hit and kicked Matthews "a couple of times," then while one man pulled up Matthews' shirt, another cut his Aryan Nation tattoo.
Holmes testified that Jenkins then retrieved the ball-peen hammer from the back of Dalton's truck and "began hitting the victim in the head with it," records state. Holmes said he and the other two men yelled for Jenkins to stop.
Holmes testified that Jenkins "hit the victim five or six times, stopped, and then resumed hitting the victim five or six more times," records state. By then, Matthews was making a "snoring, half-choking" sound. Jenkins told the men they "had earned [their] bones."
Lanier testified he cut an "X" three times into Matthews' chest before the beating ensued.
After the beating, Jenkins went into a convenience store to buy beer while he still had "blood and brain matter on him," records state.
Taylor said Friday that Jenkins could still seek a review of his case by the Tennessee Supreme Court. The state's highest court decides which cases it will review based on the case merits.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.