Tennessee Man Sentenced to Death for Torturing, Raping and Killing Woman While Taking Smoke Breaks
In a statement issued by the Seventh Judicial District Attorney General, Dave Clark, a man was found guilty of abducting, raping, and torturing a woman before strangling her to death.
In relation to the death of Jennifer Gail Paxton, 35, Sean Finnegan, 56, was found guilty of numerous charges, including first-degree murder, aggravated rape, and abuse of a body, according to various media, such as the Oak Ridger, WATE, and WBIR.
According to the prosecution, Finnegan abducted Paxton in December 2019 and kept her captive at his Oak Ridge apartment. There, he violently abused and raped her multiple times before finally strangling her to death.
According to Rebecca Dishman, who was either Finnegan’s fiancée or lover, she informed the authorities that Finnegan slowly strangled Paxton with thread while he smoked.
The couple then allegedly placed Paxton’s body in a freezer after encasing her in waste bags, according to WVLT, citing prosecutors. Until the police searched his home in August 2020, Finnegan hid her body in the bedroom’s freezer. According to the prosecution, he proceeded to conceal Paxton’s corpse beneath his bed.
According to reports, Dishman entered a guilty plea in 2023 for first-degree murder. In exchange for a life sentence, which spared her the prospect of the death penalty, she testified against Finnegan.
The horrific nature of the crime and Finnegan’s knowledge of his own guilt convinced the jury to sentence him to death, according to WATE.
Upon hearing the circumstances of Jennifer Paxton’s last days in captivity, torture, and murder, district attorney Clark expressed his condolences to her family, saying, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the surviving family members of Jennifer Paxton who have suffered through this horrific process.” It was a statement given after the sentencing. They have been really brave, supportive, and strong the whole way through.
“We hope that with the jury’s verdict and the conclusion of this case, Jennifer’s family can find some closure and healing from this nightmare,” was added by Clark in his statement.
Execution by lethal injection was Finnegan’s punishment. A lawyer for Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Darrell Winfree, told 10WBIR that he will probably die of natural causes before he is executed.
According to what Winfree informed the outlet, the appeals process might drag on for decades, and healthcare for death row inmates is often poorer than for non-inmates.
To Winfree, “it seems like it would be very easy to bring someone’s life to end” (as reported by the station). “But it is a very extended process, a very expensive process, and a very complicated process.”
In 2021, the state of Tennessee last carried out an execution by lethal injection. The state’s executions by lethal injection, however, were temporarily halted in 2022 by Governor Bill Lee and have not been reinstated since.
