CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – After hours of jury deliberation and four days of testimony, Jaelyn Gant, charged with the murder of a Chinese restaurant employee, was found guilty of second-degree murder.
On Dec. 2, 2020, at approximately 12:45 p.m., officers responded to the King Mao Chinese restaurant on Needmore Road where an armed robbery resulted in the death of an employee, 28-year-old Seth Stephens. The suspect fled and remained at large for almost two years. During the course of the investigation, police arrested Gant, 31, and extradited him to the Montgomery County Jail on Nov. 9, 2022.
Gant had been charged with first-degree murder and other robbery-related charges. On Friday, the jury found him guilty of the lesser second-degree murder on count 1, and guilty as charged of first-degree murder in perpetration to commit a crime on count 2, plus other charges.
Prosecution: ‘Killed for $106 and ego’
“He felt ‘tried,'” said Chief Deputy District Attorney General Marianne Bell. “On Dec. 2, 2020, Seth Stephens stood up to this defendant.”
Bell told the jury that although Stephens wasn’t perfect, he was a trusted employee and worked hard. Stephens wasn’t going to give Gant what he wanted, saying, ‘You’re going to have to use that gun if you want this money.’ But Gant, Bell said, would not allow his ego to be so easily bruised.
“So, (Gant) aimed his revolver, pulled the trigger – not once, not twice, but three times, until (Stephens) collapsed on the floor,” Bell told the jury. “Then he reached down and pulled all the cash out of Seth’s dying hand and took off, leaving Seth struggling for breath and dying behind the counter of the restaurant.”
Bell said the reward for robbing the restaurant and killing Stephens was a grand total of $106. She pulled up the screenshot from the video of Gant wielding the silver revolver, one of many items in evidence, including a hoodie and phone.
“He must have been so worried about that hot gun,” Bell said, smiling with disbelief as she pointed to Gant. “He’s going to take a video with it. Does that make sense? What does that say? Is he worried about being caught? Is he concerned about what happens and what he keeps looking up on his phone: ‘Seth Stephens killed in Clarksville’?”
“Or does he think, sitting there in his black hoodie with his silver revolver in his hand – no job, looking like he’s sitting in Wilmarie’s (girlfriend) car, living with a single mom, that he has got it made and he is getting away with cold-blooded murder,” Bell said. “That’s what it looks like to the state: greed, ego and violence.”
Defense: Dots still missing
“There are several things that I agree with Gen. Bell about,” Gordon Rahn, Gant’s attorney, said to the jury. “One thing I 100% agree with her on is that Seth Stephens did not deserve this.”
Rahn reminded the jury that his client never denied that the guns and evidence found in the wrecked Kia Sorento belonged to him, and that while testifying, Gant didn’t deny the search history on his phone but struggled to remember the wording.
“DNA does not lie,” Rahn said with a nod. “(Gant’s) DNA was found on it. But, what else? It was a mixture. His DNA was not the only DNA on that trigger and trigger guard. Somebody else’s DNA was also on it.”
Rahn said there were inconsistencies in the testimony of Rebeckah Fields (Gant’s sister) compared to her initial interview with detectives. There were some dots still missing, Rahn pointed out. The state relied heavily on Fields’ testimony, but there were no other eyewitnesses.
“She drives to the apartments with Mr. Gant, who supposedly had this plan to commit this robbery,” Rahn said. “How does he know how long she is going to be in that apartment? Is it going to be a couple minutes?”
“And he walks over to King Mao, supposedly commits this horrible crime, runs away from King Mao, how does he know that she’s going to be in that car? How is he going to know how long he might have to sit there after committing this horrible crime, knowing that law enforcement is going to be coming in and he’s just going to be waiting in this car?”
‘My truth’ vs. ‘the truth’
The state presented a final argument against the defense as Chris West, assistant district attorney, addressed the jury. “My truth,” He repeated as he took the revolver from the evidence and showed it to the jury. “We don’t ask witnesses when they take the oath to tell ‘my truth’ or ‘their truth.’ They’re asked to tell the truth.”
West explained that ‘my truth’ makes him think of how their experiences influenced and changed them, reciting the old saying, “Well, that’s my truth and I’m sticking to it.”
“All 30 witnesses up there swore to tell the truth,” West pointed out. “Mr. Gant took an oath, went up there, and said he would tell the truth. Ladies and gentlemen, that lasted about a minute.”
West told the jury that it is their job to decide the facts.
“All this testimony from Mr. Gant that (Fields) somehow decided to get a gun from Clarksville as a present for him, that everyone understood was hot,” West said, inspecting the revolver. “(Gant) is so concerned about Fields that he calls her last week and says, ‘Are you going to work next week? Because I want my mind to rest at ease.'”
Sentencing will come next at the Montgomery County Courts Center.
Correction: Gant was found guilty of the lesser second-degree murder on count 1, and guilty of first-degree murder in perpetration to commit a crime on count 2. The article has been updated.
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