Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Maner/Phillips plea to murder
Two Morristown men have entered guilty pleas in the 2016 bludgeoning death of a New Market resident. They were scheduled to go to trial today in Jefferson County Circuit Court. Gregory Dean-Jeremiah Maner, 29, Elmwood Drive, and Brandon Phillips, 33, Brockland Drive, were originally charged with First Degree Murder, Felony Murder and Especially Aggravated Robbery in the robbery and death of Donald Dunham, 69, who's body was found by his wife, in the garage of his home on West Old Andrew Johnson Highway at 11:49 pm on February 25, 2016. Asst. Prosecutor Chuck Murphy negotiated a plea agreement with both defendants who pleaded guilty to Second Degree Murder and Especially Aggravated Robbery. Judge Duane Slone sentenced Maner to 35 years and Phillips to 30 years. Both sentences will be served at 100 percent. Jefferson County Sheriff GW "Bud" McCoig said Dunham was to have picked up his wife at work the day of the murder, but when he didn't arrive at her place of employment and couldn't be reached by phone, Mrs. Dunham found another way home. Upon arrival she found her injured husband lying in the garage however he died after being taken to the UT Medical Center in Knoxville. "The investigation shows that Maner, Phillips, and a third individual went to the Dunham residence and parked across the street. Maner and Phillips got out and went into the garage to rob Donald Dunham of pills. They beat the victim and struck him with a hammer," the sheriff said, pointing out that the third male walked away. He did not participate in the assault and has not been charged. After the bludgeoning, the assailants picked up the third male and fled the scene. According to Sheriff McCoig, the victim sustained trauma to his head from the hammer, and "he also was hit with their fists and kicked." A tablet and keys taken from the victim were recovered with the assistance of the Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office, sever. Sheriff McCoig, at the time of the murder, said the defendants knew Dunham "through drug trafficking."


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