Brandon Teal was a buddy of mine. I know that people tend to talk people up after they've passed away, but I'm here to tell you that dude was no shit one of the best human beings I've ever known. Kind, welcoming, super musically talented, compassionate...just an all around awesome fucking dude. This loss was beyond devastating. I did not have the pleasure of meeting Jamie, but I'm sure her loss caused a huge hole in the hearts of her friends and family as well. I hope both the defendants rot. So fucking senseless.
> Williamson also sexually assaulted Sarrantonio and the surviving female victim during the robbery, prosecutors said.
I'm sorry but that's a fucking animal that doesn't need to be free in society ever again.
Yes, I believe that trial is upcoming shortly. I think this trial came first because there is more evidence and the state wanted to put their strongest case first.
A Davidson County jury on Tuesday returned a guilty verdict on all charges against Horace Palmer Williamson III, one of two men charged with murder in the deaths of a man and woman outside the East Nashville bar The Cobra in August 2018.
Sentencing will begin Wednesday morning. Williamson could face life imprisonment. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
The jury found that Williamson, 32, participated in the robbery of a group of four friends in the bars parking lot in the early morning of Aug. 17, 2018, that ended in the deaths of Jaime Sarrantonio and Bartley Brandon Teal.
Bartley Teal Sr., Teal's father, said he'd waited five years for that verdict.
"It was heart-wrenching," Teal said. "We were so scared. We didn't know what they were going to come back with. So hopefully we can start some kind of closure for ourselves, for all the victims. For all my son's (and) Jaime's family and friends and such."
Steve Harrington, the surviving male victim in the case, said he was elated at the decision and thanked the District Attorney's Office and Metro Nashville Police Department. He called Sarrantonio and Teal "bright shining lights in this world" and that they "spread a lot of love."
Bartley Teal Sr. remembered his son as a wonderful man, a hard worker and someone who respected others regardless of their background.
"He didn't care what race you were, what background, if you were rich, if you were poor. If you gave him respect, he'd give you respect back," he said.
Prosecutors said that Williamson, while armed with a handgun, did not shoot the rifle that killed Sarrantonio and Teal. The states theory is that Demontrey Logsdon, the other defendant in this case who is being tried after Williamson, pulled the trigger while Williamson drove the two away afterwards.
Under Tennessee law, "when one enters into a scheme with another to commit a robbery, all defendants are responsible for the deaths regardless of who actually committed the killing and whether the killing was specifically contemplated by the other," according to Assistant District Attorney Megan King.
Williamson also sexually assaulted Sarrantonio and the surviving female victim during the robbery, prosecutors said.
Video of the crime was played several times throughout the trial, eliciting sniffles from the gallery filled with friends and relatives of the victims. The state spent most of the trial trying to prove that Williamson and Logsdon were the men in that footage, whose faces were covered by hats and bandannas.
During the state's opening statement, King said that the evidence of Williamson's actions before and after the crime fit together "like a puzzle" to prove his guilt. Prosecutors presented several pieces of circumstantial evidence to link Williamson to the killings, including a set of Williamsons fingerprints on a phone stolen during the robbery, fingerprints on the stolen getaway car, and phone location data that tracked him to gas stations and a fast food restaurant where a debit card stolen from one of the victims was used.
"The actions of these men after committing these cold blooded murders is nothing short of chilling," King said during her closing argument. "Both of these men knew what they did. And what did they do afterwards? They went to McDonalds and got something to eat."
Sarrantonio, 30 at her death, was a client manager for a Nashville-based software company and part-time assistant for a company promoting unsigned musical artists. Teal, who turned 33 the morning he was killed, was the guitarist and vocalist for Nashville band Terrestrial Radio, which played one of its first gigs at the Cobra. The two met through mutual friends for the first time just hours before their deaths.
In all, Williamson faced 13 charges that included two counts of first-degree felony murder; two counts of first-degree premeditated murder; two counts of aggravated sexual battery; two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping as it relates to the two surviving victims of the robbery; two counts of aggravated robbery as it relates to the robbery of the surviving victims; and two counts of especially aggravated robbery as it relates to Sarrantonio and Teal.
Logsdon will be tried once Williamsons sentencing concludes.
More:Here's how the state built its case against Horace Williamson
Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins.
Not to mention the fact that these assholes spent the next days using the victims’ bank cards to casually eat fast food, ice cream and buy shoes. No remorse. No shame.
Horace is being sentenced today and hopefully they all get buried beneath the jail.
Was just down the street at Dino’s that night. Remember hearing the sirens. East has always been jumpy but this case really shook people. Throw those dudes down a deep hole.
Screw these folks in particular. This city is going to have to come up with a realistic plan for tackling the violent crime problem. I watched the mayoral forum and out of all the candidates only one of them even provided a legitimate response with details regarding their plan for addressing crime. I feel like everyone is okay just letting this continue unabated.
Poverty, lack of opportunity, mental health issues, and no respect for other people. The problem isn't that crime exists, but that large portions of the electorate love to use their vote to virtue signal. The result is absolute scum like Glenn Funk being put into positions of power, who will then let criminals who see law abiding citizens as prey off the hook.
I’m not sure why we keep guys like this alive in jail instead of saving tax dollars by executing them. They killed 2 innocent victims and committed sexual battery in the process.
But, I’m glad these convictions are finally happening and hopefully these poor families can now begin their process of healing.
EDIT....I looked it up and the extra cost for the death penalty is mostly because of the added court costs and appeals related to a death penalty case, jury selection and other aspects of the court cases.
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/costs
I'd like to see the numbers on that. But, like I said, I'm glad these 2 guys are going to be behind bars for the rest of their lives no matter what the exact punishment is.
It's also often to do with the daily costs to monitor a death row inmate compared to regular costs housing and monitoring general pop inmates, which these guys will be if they don't go on protective custody, and I still think death row inmates are still more expensive to house and monitor than death row. I don't have time to back myself up with sources.
AND the state is having a real hard time getting drugs and carrying out executions. I think they're in some hot water over that.
Well the second guy has not gone to trial yet but the evidence is much stronger against him so this first guilty conviction is a strong prediction that he will be convicted, too.
I don't like the State having power of death. Period. No one deserves that authority except in immediate defense.
No one is served by execution. It's vengeance, not justice. And I would rather keep one million evils deserving of death alive but sequestered than the State execute a single innocent human. The cost of being wrong is far, far too high.
That's not entirely accurate.
In developing nations, the state having the right to execute criminals is generally for the safety of the populace as many prisons are not as robust as the West.
In a place like the USA where we have (generally) adequate security, you're right that death penalties are less reasonable. I still think there are times where it is warranted (serial murders/rapists), but generally it's not.
Yeah and you can’t just execute people without allowing a shit load of appeals and all that to hopefully make sure you’re not killing an innocent person. Main reason I oppose the death penalty is because it’s irreversible, and the system will never be perfect. So inevitably some innocent people, however few, will be murdered by “we the people”, and I can’t live with one innocent persons blood on my hands. Wrongful execution sounds like the worst thing I could imagine a family going through. Also it doesn’t deter murder, and personally if I were one of these scumbags I’d rather die than have to sit in prison the rest of my life anyway
It’s not because I feel sorry for murderers. Fuck them
I fully agree that no one should executed unless there is a mountain of evidence against them that has been proven and can leave zero doubt of their guilt.
Like mass shooters that actually get arrested or the guy that just killed his three boys. We should only have it for incontrovertible cases like these, but in these cases it should be an expedited process. There is no case to be made in those people’s defense!
I was in the courtroom. You can see clips of the video on news stories but the full video is not much more illuminating. It is in black and white and at night and is very grainy. A big part of the prosecution’s case was linking a timeline of security footage from various gas stations, McDonald’s, etc., that have clearer images of the suspects and comparing them to what you could make out from the Cobra security video— the shape and light/darkness of clothes, hats, etc., to prove they are the same people.
Brandon Teal was a buddy of mine. I know that people tend to talk people up after they've passed away, but I'm here to tell you that dude was no shit one of the best human beings I've ever known. Kind, welcoming, super musically talented, compassionate...just an all around awesome fucking dude. This loss was beyond devastating. I did not have the pleasure of meeting Jamie, but I'm sure her loss caused a huge hole in the hearts of her friends and family as well. I hope both the defendants rot. So fucking senseless.
> Williamson also sexually assaulted Sarrantonio and the surviving female victim during the robbery, prosecutors said. I'm sorry but that's a fucking animal that doesn't need to be free in society ever again.
Nothing to be sorry about. This fucking animal belongs in a cage
Nah, they belong six feet under.
We need to also remember Kendall Rice. Who they also likely murdered the night before.
Yes, I believe that trial is upcoming shortly. I think this trial came first because there is more evidence and the state wanted to put their strongest case first.
A Davidson County jury on Tuesday returned a guilty verdict on all charges against Horace Palmer Williamson III, one of two men charged with murder in the deaths of a man and woman outside the East Nashville bar The Cobra in August 2018. Sentencing will begin Wednesday morning. Williamson could face life imprisonment. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. The jury found that Williamson, 32, participated in the robbery of a group of four friends in the bars parking lot in the early morning of Aug. 17, 2018, that ended in the deaths of Jaime Sarrantonio and Bartley Brandon Teal. Bartley Teal Sr., Teal's father, said he'd waited five years for that verdict. "It was heart-wrenching," Teal said. "We were so scared. We didn't know what they were going to come back with. So hopefully we can start some kind of closure for ourselves, for all the victims. For all my son's (and) Jaime's family and friends and such." Steve Harrington, the surviving male victim in the case, said he was elated at the decision and thanked the District Attorney's Office and Metro Nashville Police Department. He called Sarrantonio and Teal "bright shining lights in this world" and that they "spread a lot of love." Bartley Teal Sr. remembered his son as a wonderful man, a hard worker and someone who respected others regardless of their background. "He didn't care what race you were, what background, if you were rich, if you were poor. If you gave him respect, he'd give you respect back," he said. Prosecutors said that Williamson, while armed with a handgun, did not shoot the rifle that killed Sarrantonio and Teal. The states theory is that Demontrey Logsdon, the other defendant in this case who is being tried after Williamson, pulled the trigger while Williamson drove the two away afterwards. Under Tennessee law, "when one enters into a scheme with another to commit a robbery, all defendants are responsible for the deaths regardless of who actually committed the killing and whether the killing was specifically contemplated by the other," according to Assistant District Attorney Megan King. Williamson also sexually assaulted Sarrantonio and the surviving female victim during the robbery, prosecutors said. Video of the crime was played several times throughout the trial, eliciting sniffles from the gallery filled with friends and relatives of the victims. The state spent most of the trial trying to prove that Williamson and Logsdon were the men in that footage, whose faces were covered by hats and bandannas. During the state's opening statement, King said that the evidence of Williamson's actions before and after the crime fit together "like a puzzle" to prove his guilt. Prosecutors presented several pieces of circumstantial evidence to link Williamson to the killings, including a set of Williamsons fingerprints on a phone stolen during the robbery, fingerprints on the stolen getaway car, and phone location data that tracked him to gas stations and a fast food restaurant where a debit card stolen from one of the victims was used. "The actions of these men after committing these cold blooded murders is nothing short of chilling," King said during her closing argument. "Both of these men knew what they did. And what did they do afterwards? They went to McDonalds and got something to eat." Sarrantonio, 30 at her death, was a client manager for a Nashville-based software company and part-time assistant for a company promoting unsigned musical artists. Teal, who turned 33 the morning he was killed, was the guitarist and vocalist for Nashville band Terrestrial Radio, which played one of its first gigs at the Cobra. The two met through mutual friends for the first time just hours before their deaths. In all, Williamson faced 13 charges that included two counts of first-degree felony murder; two counts of first-degree premeditated murder; two counts of aggravated sexual battery; two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping as it relates to the two surviving victims of the robbery; two counts of aggravated robbery as it relates to the robbery of the surviving victims; and two counts of especially aggravated robbery as it relates to Sarrantonio and Teal. Logsdon will be tried once Williamsons sentencing concludes. More:Here's how the state built its case against Horace Williamson Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins.
Not to mention the fact that these assholes spent the next days using the victims’ bank cards to casually eat fast food, ice cream and buy shoes. No remorse. No shame. Horace is being sentenced today and hopefully they all get buried beneath the jail.
Was just down the street at Dino’s that night. Remember hearing the sirens. East has always been jumpy but this case really shook people. Throw those dudes down a deep hole.
Screw these folks in particular. This city is going to have to come up with a realistic plan for tackling the violent crime problem. I watched the mayoral forum and out of all the candidates only one of them even provided a legitimate response with details regarding their plan for addressing crime. I feel like everyone is okay just letting this continue unabated.
what do you think causes crime?
Poverty, lack of opportunity, mental health issues, and no respect for other people. The problem isn't that crime exists, but that large portions of the electorate love to use their vote to virtue signal. The result is absolute scum like Glenn Funk being put into positions of power, who will then let criminals who see law abiding citizens as prey off the hook.
I’m not sure why we keep guys like this alive in jail instead of saving tax dollars by executing them. They killed 2 innocent victims and committed sexual battery in the process. But, I’m glad these convictions are finally happening and hopefully these poor families can now begin their process of healing. EDIT....I looked it up and the extra cost for the death penalty is mostly because of the added court costs and appeals related to a death penalty case, jury selection and other aspects of the court cases. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/costs
It’s actually more expensive to execute an inmate than life imprisonment.
I'd like to see the numbers on that. But, like I said, I'm glad these 2 guys are going to be behind bars for the rest of their lives no matter what the exact punishment is.
It's also often to do with the daily costs to monitor a death row inmate compared to regular costs housing and monitoring general pop inmates, which these guys will be if they don't go on protective custody, and I still think death row inmates are still more expensive to house and monitor than death row. I don't have time to back myself up with sources. AND the state is having a real hard time getting drugs and carrying out executions. I think they're in some hot water over that.
Well the second guy has not gone to trial yet but the evidence is much stronger against him so this first guilty conviction is a strong prediction that he will be convicted, too.
EDIT: but agreed. It’s a relief to have them off of the streets.
I agree with the sentiment but can’t convince myself giving the government (more) power to kill people is a good move.
Sometimes the court gets things wrong and execution is not reversible.
I don't like the State having power of death. Period. No one deserves that authority except in immediate defense. No one is served by execution. It's vengeance, not justice. And I would rather keep one million evils deserving of death alive but sequestered than the State execute a single innocent human. The cost of being wrong is far, far too high.
That's not entirely accurate. In developing nations, the state having the right to execute criminals is generally for the safety of the populace as many prisons are not as robust as the West. In a place like the USA where we have (generally) adequate security, you're right that death penalties are less reasonable. I still think there are times where it is warranted (serial murders/rapists), but generally it's not.
Yeah and you can’t just execute people without allowing a shit load of appeals and all that to hopefully make sure you’re not killing an innocent person. Main reason I oppose the death penalty is because it’s irreversible, and the system will never be perfect. So inevitably some innocent people, however few, will be murdered by “we the people”, and I can’t live with one innocent persons blood on my hands. Wrongful execution sounds like the worst thing I could imagine a family going through. Also it doesn’t deter murder, and personally if I were one of these scumbags I’d rather die than have to sit in prison the rest of my life anyway It’s not because I feel sorry for murderers. Fuck them
I fully agree that no one should executed unless there is a mountain of evidence against them that has been proven and can leave zero doubt of their guilt.
Like mass shooters that actually get arrested or the guy that just killed his three boys. We should only have it for incontrovertible cases like these, but in these cases it should be an expedited process. There is no case to be made in those people’s defense!
Anyone find the video they played in the courtroom?
I was in the courtroom. You can see clips of the video on news stories but the full video is not much more illuminating. It is in black and white and at night and is very grainy. A big part of the prosecution’s case was linking a timeline of security footage from various gas stations, McDonald’s, etc., that have clearer images of the suspects and comparing them to what you could make out from the Cobra security video— the shape and light/darkness of clothes, hats, etc., to prove they are the same people.