CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The trial for two teens charged with murder and especially aggravated robbery in the 2018 beating death of a 71-year-old laundromat attendant came to an end Friday after the jury returned guilty verdicts for reckless homicide and criminally negligent homicide.
Jevon Brodie and Tavares Harbison were both charged when they were 14 and 13 years old respectively with first-degree murder after a robbery left Ted Cook, a 71-year-old attendant at a Clarksville laundromat, dead in 2018.
A third defendant charged in the robbery and attack, Harrison Smith, took a plea to second-degree murder and has agreed to serve 15 years in prison.
Over the last week, jurors heard from Cook’s widow, several experts in the fields of pathology, forensics and law enforcement that investigated the incident on May 30, 2018. The state’s key piece of evidence was surveillance footage from inside the laundromat on Peachers Mill Road that captured the attack.
Before returning the verdict, the jury deliberated for over eight hours from Thursday into Friday morning after closing arguments were made Thursday morning.
Jury instructions and argument
Before getting into jury instructions Wednesday morning, there was some conflict about the calling of the third defendant, Smith, to testify against the other two at trial.
The prosecution was set to call Smith, but they decided against it.
“I didn’t think it would have been beneficial, and I still don’t think it would have had any outcome on the verdict,” District Attorney General Robert Nash told Clarksville Now Friday, adding that the fact that Smith did not testify in court against Harbsion and Brodie will not affect his plea deal, and he will still serve the 15 years he agreed to.
Both defense attorneys then made a motion for acquittal. They pointed out the lack of state’s evidence relating to the truck that the three teens allegedly stole from Cook after the attack at the laundromat. The felony aspect of the murder was the theft of an item valued at over $2,500, which the state said would be Cook’s truck. The day after the beating, investigators found the truck abandoned in Harbison’s neighborhood.
Aside from Cook’s widow Stella testifying that the loan amount on the truck that had yet to be paid off was $11,000, no evidence was introduced by the state supporting her claim value of the truck.
Carikker added that the state also did not provide video evidence of the teens fleeing the laundromat in the truck, and the car keys the state alleged Harbison stole from Cook were never recovered.
Nash countered, stating that Stella’s testimony as to the loan amount yet to be paid off on the truck was its value. The defense’s motion for acquittal was then denied by Judge Robert Bateman.
Both defendants then waived their right to testify, and the judge gave the jury instructions before putting court on recess for the day Wednesday, and calling for closing arguments to begin Thursday morning.
Closing arguments
During the state’s closing arguments Thursday morning, Nash made his central point repetitively: when someone creates a plan with another to commit a robbery, or any crime that leads to the death of another, all defendants involved are responsible for that death.
“That’s the essence of that we call first-degree murder in perpetration of a robbery,” Nash said.
While Nash admitted that the surveillance footage showed Brodie inflicting the injuries to Cook, Harbison is as guilty because they engaged in the act of robbery together that lead to Cook’s death regardless of both defendants’ ages when the crime was committed.
“You do an adult crime, then you’re an adult,” Nash said. “It’s unfortunate that people make decisions like this, but that’s why we have the criminal justice system.”
Both defense attorneys attempted to poke holes in the state’s case with questions about the roles both defendants played, and the reiterated questions about the underlying charge of theft that grounds the most serious offense, which was first-degree in perpetration of a crime.
Both also leaned into their clients’ ages during the time of the crime.
“The judgement of kids, especially that of a 13 and 14 year olds, is not always what it should be,” Carikker said.
Harbison’s defense attorney Shelby Silvey then also reminded jurors that her client was the youngest of the three suspects at just 13 years old and in the 7th grade when the incident happened.
“It was a shocking and devastating turn of events that had a saddening result and serious consequences,” Silvey conceded to the jurors.
The jury was then sent to deliberate.
Verdict
The verdict was returned just before noon on Friday. Brodie was found guilty on lesser included charges: two counts of reckless homicide and aggravated robbery. They also returned guilty verdicts for theft of property valued at $10,000 but less than $60,000, and theft of property.
Harbison was also found guilty on lesser included charges, but instead for two counts of criminally negligent homicide. Like Brodie, the jury also returned guilty verdicts for theft of property valued at $10,000 but less than $60,000, and theft of property for Harbison.
Judge Bateman then revoked the bond that had been set for the pair on the especially aggravated robbery charges.
Silvey then asked for a status hearing for Harbison about an expert opinion that’s set to be provided at sentencing, and Judge Bateman set that hearing for Dec. 6.
“You know, having juveniles end up here a lot of times, it’s so unfortunate because people often end up being in the justice system and being in this position because the system has failed,” Silvey said of the resources available to juveniles moving through the criminal justice system.
Silvey said that she had an expert from Vanderbilt independently evaluate Harbison for mental health reasons based on his age, and in earlier proceedings, that opinion was deemed inadmissible for trial purposes. However, the judge did rule that the opinion could be used during sentencing, Silvey said.
She and said that played a role in the jury’s findings when asked about the relevancy of her client’s age.
“I do think it played in, and the thing that makes me feel better about is that the community decided through a jury,” Silvey said adding that she appreciated the jury not coming back quickly with a decision.
“I thank them for taking the time to consider and answer, in a way, a really hard question that we all have… society’s changing and we’re having to deal with more and more issues like that in the justice system and not in other ways.”
Nash said that he too appreciated the jury’s service.
“I respect juries decisions. I’ll never criticize the jury for the work they have to do and what decision they render. I think it’s pretty obvious what the state thought these two defendants committed, but I respect the jury and their decision, and we move forward,” Nash said. “I thank them for their service.”
Brodie’s defense attorney, Carikker, was not immediately available for comment after the verdict. Cook’s family was also not immediately available for comment regarding the verdict.
Harbison’s grandmother, Tonya Hickerson, said she was happy and relieved that her grandson now has the potential to come home.
“It was hard, it was frustrating and it was exhausting. And with my faith in God, he never failed me,” Hickerson said. “We got the outcome that we wanted.”
Sentencing for the pair was set to Jan. 6.