Tuesday afternoon there was a sentencing hearing for Steven Wiggins in Charlotte. The hearing was to sentence the additional nine counts on top of the sentence of the death penalty.
The hearing began by the prosecution calling forth three people to take the stand. The three people consisted of Taylor Doyle, Sheriff Tim Eads, and Austin Frye. Each witness gave a different perspective of their relationship with Steven Wiggins.
The first witness, Taylor Doyle is a TDOC worker who filed the pre-sentencing report of the defendant. The pre-sentencing report detailed the list of seventeen previous convictions, federal charges, and active warrants for the defendant.
Next, Sheriff Eads’ testimony consisted of giving details about the cost for the Dickson County Sheriff’s Department to replace Sgt. Baker’s patrol car and his authorized gun.
Finally, Austin Frye is a probation officer and talked about the violation of probation and active warrant against the defendant. Although Frye had little interaction with Wiggins, it added to his testimony that he was supposed to; however, Wiggins never appeared to him again.
After the three witnesses testified, there was an opportunity for cross examination, yet the defense chose not to. This then moved the hearing to giving closing remarks which started and ended with the prosecution.
General Crouch stated that he wanted each count to run consecutively and Wiggins charged as a range two offender. In fact, General Crouch added that Wiggins has no remorse for his actions, bragged in prison, and other inmates have his name tattooed on their bodies since it is rare to meet “a cop killer”.
The defense on the other hand wanted the sentencing to be closer to the less extent range, but agreed to the range two offender indication. One defense attorney argued that these charges are not violent and should not be the full max of a sentence.
However, in General Crouch’s final statement he stated, “this is a qualifying case to merit consecutive sentencing in any other case without the death penalty”.
After a brief recess, Judge Wolfe made his ruling that indicated a total of 37 years to be served consecutively until Steven Wiggins will be executed by the death penalty.
