Convicted murderer Howard Hawk Willis listens impassively as the jury foreman reads off guilty verdicts on three counts in the deaths of Adam and Samantha Chrismer. Willis was convicted of killing the two back in October of 2002. He now faces the death penalty from the Knoxville jury. Click to enlarge.
photo by Dennis Norwood
JONESBOROUGH, Tn. – Deliberating a total of nine and one-half hours, the Knoxville jury in the Howard Hawk Willis Trial delivered verdicts of guilty on all three counts just after lunch Monday afternoon.
Willis was convicted charges of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 17-year-old Adam Chrismer and his 16-year-old wife, Samantha Leming Chrismer. He was also found guilty by the panel of six men and six women of one count of felony murder in the case of Mrs. Chrismer. This came from the fact that her body had been found nude, gagged and bound when discovered inside the 50-gallon Rubbermaid tote.
Autopsy results showed that she was in this condition when she received two gunshots to the back of the head, determined to be her cause of death.
Their murders were proven to have occurred within a day and a half of one another, with Mr. Chrismer’s murder occurring first. His severed head and both hands were discovered first floating in Boone Lake in the Deer Park Recreation Park near Johnson City. The totes containing his torso and Mrs. Chrismer’s body were found in a 24-hour storage facility in Johnson City.
The jury immediately moved into the sentencing phase of the trial. Willis is facing the death penalty on all three counts. He stood, showing no emotion at all as the foreman read the results.
(Email Dennis Norwood at sportswriter56@comcast.net or follow him on Twitter at DennisENorwood)
Patty Leming, the mother of murder victim Samantha Leming Chrismer, is shown leaving the witness stand following her testimony in the victim impact phase of Howard Hawk Willis’ sentencing hearing. This hearing comes after Willis being found guilty of all three counts in his trial for the murder of Mrs. Leming and her husband Adam in October 2002. Willis faces the death penalty for his conviction. Click to enlarge.
photo by Dennis Norwood