August 22, 2023 • 19 mins
A man is approached to buy a shotgun and a Nissan Stanza in the middle of the night at a Circle K. What follows is a bizarre exchange involving a gruesome discovery, and the arrest of two 19-year-olds.
Demsky, Ian. “Man convicted of 1996 killing to get new trial.” The Tennessean. December 25, 2002.
Goode, Jennifer. “Police charge victim’s brother-in-law with murder after help from citizen.” The Tennessean. July 19, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Informant tip nets arrest in murder.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. July 19, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “2nd arrested in shotgun slaying of man.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. July 21, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Alleged murderers face court hearing.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. July 21, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Two trials for murder delayed.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. August 10, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Men indicted in killing.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. October 16, 1996.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Death penalty sought in killing.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 10, 1997.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Attorneys sought to take murder trial.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 29, 1997.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Insanity defense: Two men face death penalty in murder case.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. October 30, 1997.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Murder suspect escapes: Shooting suspect on lam too.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 8, 1998.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Defendant’s mental check on way: Man faces death penalty.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 21, 1998.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “In-law killer set to join in appeal of penalty: Plans to link with fast-food murderer.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. May 22, 1998.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Man murdered brother-in-law.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. March 2, 1999.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Trial attorney critical after crash.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. January 22, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Lawyer: Tidwell didn’t kill.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 11, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Wife: Murder suspect racist.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 12, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Murderer claims nephew no killer.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 13, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Hate killing nets life term.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 15, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Murderer’s sentence keeps going.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. June 23, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Second trial denied in alleged hate crime.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. October 3, 2000.
Stockard, Sam. “Victim’s mom shows true compassion.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. April 18, 2000.
Marchesoni, Lisa. “Murderer’s sentence reduced.” The Daily News Journal. Murfreesboro, Tenn. November 11, 2004.
For images related to the cases, check out the Instagram.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julia Goodwin (00:00):
Hello there, this is Julia.
And murder is bad.
Jimmy Daniel Prater is in theCircle K in Murfreesboro,
(00:25):
tennessee, in the middle of thenight on July 17, 1996.
A man approaches him and asksif he would like to buy a Nissan
Stanza for $500.
That's a little under $1000 intoday's money.
Jimmy agrees and the two menleave.
The man also offers Jimmy someclothes and a shotgun before
(00:51):
saying he just needs to pickthem up first.
He drives them to Goochie FordRoad about 12 miles out of town
and begins to regale Jimmy witha story about him shooting a man
in the back of the head.
Jimmy thinks this man is just abit bizarre.
They stop on a slab bridgewhere the man jumps down and
(01:12):
pulls a shotgun from beneath thebridge.
Jimmy watches as he empties ashell out of the shotgun and
comes back to the car.
Jimmy also notices shotgunshells scattered around the road
.
After the man returns to thecar he directs Jimmy to take him
to popular village apartmentsback in town.
The pair agrees to meet thenext day around dinner time to
(01:36):
exchange money.
The man writes down his numberand gives his name as Chris.
Jimmy then starts to go throughthe car.
After a cursory look, he findsa day planner, a driver's
license and a social securitycard, all with the name Gregory
Rudolph Dodson Jr.
I don't know if Jimmy wassuspicious before this moment,
(02:01):
but he definitely was now.
1996 was the time of AOL,instant Messenger, nick at Nite,
friends, keenan and Kel.
You could expect to hear MariahCarey, the Macarena and the
Fugees on the radio, and two ofmy favorite childhood films came
out Matilda and Harriet the Spy.
(02:21):
Back in Murfreesboro at 4:45 am, jimmy walked into the
Rutherford Police Department andtold them what had happened and
handed over the evidence he hadfound.
Upon searching the NissanStanza, major Mickey McCullough
and Sergeant Scott Miller foundthe 12-gauge shotgun in the
(02:43):
passenger compartment, as wellas an aluminum baseball bat in
the trunk.
Then Lieutenant Jim Gage,sergeant Miller and Detective
Garry with 2R's Carter went toGoochie Ford Road, to the Slab
Bridge, where Jimmy and the manknown as Chris had been a few
hours earlier.
They found 24 shotgun shells,one spent shotgun shell and an
(03:11):
empty box that said it oncecontained 25 shells, and under
the bridge they found a bloodytowel.
Then, using the details givento Jimmy, the officers went to
East Trimble Road, where theyfollowed a dirt-access road into
a lightly wooded area wherethey immediately saw a crumpled
(03:34):
body laying out in the open.
This is just a trigger warning.
I'm going to give a little bitof detail.
The body was beaten, covered inblood and had a disfigured face
that was distorted by variouscuts and bruises and a shotgun
wound at the back of the head.
(03:55):
The hands were bound withmasking tape, ties and belts and
were near his face.
Officers later reported that italmost looked as if he was
praying.
Major McCullough traced thenumber given to Jimmy to the
apartment of Joy Dodson, whoseaddress was listed in poplar
(04:18):
village apartments.
At 10 am on July 18, 1996,major McCullough, sergeant
Miller, detective Carter,detective Larry Nobles and
Patrol Lieutenant Hugh Joneswent to the apartments While
they were making plans on how toget their suspect.
A man fitting the descriptionJimmy gave them walked out of
(04:40):
Joy Dodson's apartment and lit acigarette.
When the officers approachedhim, he said his name was Chris
Stacey.
He was read as rights andarrested for murder.
So Christopher Lee Stacey wasthe 19-year-old brother of Joy
Dodson.
Joy was married to 22-year-oldGregory Rudolph Dotson Jr.
(05:05):
Major McCullough said when theyarrested Stacey he confessed
and gave statements to motive,purpose and method.
90% of my research came fromarticles written by Lisa
Marchesoni for the Daily NewsJournal and Major McCullough
(05:26):
told her that Greg quote wasknocked unconscious, bound and
driven in his own car.
The perpetrator states he wasbeaten again, knocked
unconscious and shot in the backof the head.
So Greg was born October 19,1973, to mary in Gregory DoDson
(05:49):
Sr.
He was born near Louisville,kentucky.
Both his parents had sincemarried other people.
He had four sisters and twobrothers.
He was a manager at a 7-Elevenin Baltimore, tennessee.
So Greg had moved back in withhis mother because he and Joy
were having some problems.
(06:10):
But they had recently decidedto try and work things out,
partially because they sharedtwo young children,
three-year-old Mary andone-and-a-half-year-old Gregory.
After Stacey was arrested,district Attorney Bill Whitesell
advised the officers to chargehim with first-degree murder.
(06:30):
He was held at RutherfordCounty Adult Detention Center
with a hearing set for July 25.
When officers speak to Greg'swife and Stacey's sister Joy,
she tells them she had left herwork the previous morning and
told Stacey, who was stayingwith her, that Greg was coming
by to see their kids that night.
(06:51):
When she got home in the earlyhours, stacey was
uncharacteristically still awake.
He had told her that Greg hadstopped by and that he was going
to call her at 11 that morning.
Then, during the policequestioning, joy asked why
Dondie Tidwell hadn't beenarrested.
(07:11):
Dondie Tidwell was Joy's andStacy's 19-year-old nephew and
had supposedly also been at herapartment the previous day.
She assumed he had beeninvolved in whatever happened
with Greg.
The next day.
Detective Nobles also receivesan anonymous call that led them
(07:32):
to believe that Dondie Tidwellhad been involved.
When Joy talked to Tidwell, hetold her several versions of
what happened.
All had the same resolution,though he didn't know what was
going on and that he quotedidn't know it was going to
happen like that.
According to Tidwell'sthen-girlfriend, sherry Harris,
(07:55):
she said Tidwell had not beeninvolved, but then he changed
his story, saying he was there,had followed behind Stacy with
Greg's and Joy's children, butleft when Stacy got out the
shotgun.
With these statements, gatheredinformation and other physical
evidence, police arrestedTidwell at his home, rutherford
(08:18):
County Assistant MedicalExaminer Dr.
Charles Harlan had performedthe autopsy on Greg's body by
then and had determined that thespent shotgun shell had come
from the same shotgun that wasused on Greg and, based on the
location of the shotgun, pelletsin the skull had been shot into
the back of his head from adistance of 0 to 24 inches away.
(08:43):
A very close range shot.
Over the next few months, staceyand Tidwell bounce through a
few public defenders andattorneys during preliminary
hearings.
By October the pair get chargedwith first degree murder,
conspiracy to commit firstdegree murder, especially
(09:05):
aggravated kidnapping and cartheft.
I looked this up because I wascurious.
Especially aggravatedkidnapping is when the victim is
either below the age of 13, thevictim is held for ransom or
when the kidnapping is carriedout with a deadly weapon.
That's the one that applies toGreg's case.
Especially aggravatedkidnapping is a Class A felony.
(09:28):
Aggravated kidnapping is aClass B felony and kidnapping is
a Class C felony.
On April 1st of the followingyear, state prosecutors
announced that they will beseeking the death penalty for
both Stacey and Tidwell.
As a wrench in the state's case, though, the Tennessee Supreme
Court had made a ruling six daysprior that lead attorneys in
(09:53):
capital or death penalty casesmust have 12 hours of
specialized training experiencein previous capital cases, or
three murder jury trials, or onemurder jury trial and three
felony jury trials.
Tidwell's attorney, don Bullochno relation to Sandra Bullock
(10:18):
would not qualify, and Stacey'spublic defender, gerald Melton,
said that no one in his officewould qualify.
Assistant District AttorneyPaul Newman no relation to actor
Paul Newman said that he andfive former coworkers had the
special training.
Ada Newman had formerly workedin the public defender's office
(10:38):
in Nashville.
Judge James Clayton "it it waslike someone dropped a 500 pound
bomb in the courtroom.
" Judge Clayton also complainedthat he had just been at a
conference where no onementioned this new filing and
that he would have toindefinitely delay proceedings
until he could discuss it withSupreme Court administrators.
(11:00):
He also said there was no doubtin his mind that all present
counsel was competent.
Attorney Melton said that withthe death penalty there can't be
room for error and that mostdeath penalty appeals are
overturned because the attorneyis found incompetent Quote the
(11:21):
rule is designed to assure thepublic good quality attorneys
are representing death penaltycases.
This will close the loopholeused to get the death penalty
overturned.
A few weeks later they were backin court.
Attorney Melton said he wouldput together a list of qualified
defenders because no one inRutherford County Public
(11:43):
Defender's Office were qualifiedand that he could serve as a
second chair to aid in Stacey'sdefense.
Attorney Bulloch asked towithdraw himself because he
wasn't qualified and JudgeClayton agreed by the end of
October.
Stacey is being represented byAttorney Jim Weatherly, who
states he's investigating thepossibility of an insanity
(12:05):
defense, and Tidwell is beingrepresented by Attorneys Larry
Wallace and Larry Warner-- theLarrys.
There were also a bunch ofpre-trial motions.
One requested separate juriesto determine guilt and then to
determine sentencing if foundguilty.
Another one was forsequestering the jury and
(12:27):
another one was to suppressTidwell's statement to police.
Sergeant Miller testified thatTidwell signed a statement
saying he understood his rightsand made a voluntary statement.
Judge Clayton overruled thatparticular motion.
DA Whitesell also asked thedefense to respond to a filing
(12:48):
he had made the previous Augustrequesting information on a
possible alibi or insanitydefense.
Attorney Weatherly said heneeded more time.
I'm going to pause here and justsay how frustrating it was
seeing how many times GregDodson's name was misspelled.
The first few articles it wasspelled dobson with a B, then
(13:10):
around this time it switched todotson with a T, which was like
another sheriff around, andliterally in a story they had to
say oh, the guy who wasmurdered is not the sheriff, and
it's not even until the trialthat it's spelled correctly as
Dodson with a D.
Okay, rant over, it's not untilApril the following year that
(13:32):
they returned to court.
Stacey's defense requests moretime for mental evaluations.
The prosecutors get veryannoyed by this the day after
Chris Stacey actually escapeswith Stephen Dryden Evans who
was being held on four counts offirst degree murder for
shooting into a crowded party.
He turned himself in thefollowing day but pled not
(13:55):
guilty to escape charges and atthe end of the month Attorney
Melton asked for even more time,which frustrates prosecution
even more.
ADA Tom Jackson says it's timefor us to move on.
In May, ADA Newman requestsdefense give the names of any
(14:15):
experts who will testify aboutTidwell's mental health, if
convicted, and that state mentalhealth experts examined Tidwell
.
If his mental health is plannedto be used during the penalty
phase, judge Clayton rules thatthe state is entitled to know
the expert witnesses.
But there's another wrenchbecause of rulings in another
(14:39):
case.
Judge Cheryl Blackburn had alsoruled that the state was
entitled to any experts beingused in the penalty phase while
she was presiding over the PaulReid case where he was accused
of killing five fast foodworkers in Nashville and two
people in Clarksville.
However, a judge in Clarksvillemade the opposite ruling, so
(15:05):
the conflict of rulings were onappeal at the time.
This does nothing but delay thetrials even longer.
On March 1, 1999, three yearsafter the murder of Greg Dodson,
christopher Lee Stacey pleadsguilty to first-degree murder,
conspiracy to commit murder andespecially aggravated kidnapping
(15:28):
.
He will serve a minimum of 51years before being eligible for
parole, which would be in 2047when he is 70 years old.
Judge Clayton asks why are youentering pleas of guilty?
Stacey replies because it's theright thing to do.
Judge Clayton asks do you feellike you're guilty of those
(15:51):
charges?
Stacey replies yes, sir.
Stacey then allocutes whathappened that night and there's
a trigger warning because of allthese details.
According to Stacey, greg cameinto the apartment to see his
kids but gets in an argumentwith Stacey and Tidwell.
During the argument, gregthreatens to "whoop, his own
(16:15):
wife, tidwell.
Stacey and their girlfriends,stacey and Tidwell talk about
beating Greg up before Staceypicks up an aluminum baseball
bat and hits Greg in the chest.
Tidwell then gets a trowel usedfor concrete finishing and
starts beating Greg with it.
Greg resisted both attacks,which are being perpetrated in
(16:40):
front of his children.
Tidwell then ushers the kidsinto the other room and collects
belts, ties and tape.
Greg asked to be taken to thehospital.
Both men bind Greg and coverhis hands with a towel before
Stacey walks him out of theapartment into Greg's Nissan
stanza.
(17:00):
Tidwell then puts the kids inanother car and follows Stacey
as they pulled out of theapartment complex.
When they get to the dirtaccess road, more arguing ensues
until Tidwell hands Stacey theshotgun.
When asked if Dondie Tidwelltold Stacey to shoot Greg,
(17:22):
stacey replied me and Dondie's.
Like brothers, we can read eachother's minds.
Tidwell then turned up themusic in the car so the kids
wouldn't hear the shotgun blast.
They then abandoned Greg's body.
Stacey said he would dispose ofthe gun while Tidwell returned
to the apartment to clean up.
(17:44):
Stacey then testifies thatTidwell had been trying to get
him to take the fall for thewhole thing and was offering
candy and cigarettes in jail tobribe him to do so.
Attorney Weatherly questionedpsychiatrist Dr William Burnett
about Stacey.
Dr Burnett testifies thatStacey was competent to stand
trial but that two IQ testsshowed that he was mildly
(18:08):
mentally retarded with only afifth grade education.
And that's where we'll pick upon Friday.
Thank you again for listeningto Murder is Bad.
If you would like to see imagesrelated to this case, @m
urderisbadpodcast can check itout on Instagram.
(18:31):
I don't know if I'm going to beon any other socials right now,
so just go on over to Instagramfor now.
Take care of each other andremember murder is bad.
Hello there, this is Julia.
And murder is bad.
Jimmy Daniel Prater is in theCircle K in Murfreesboro,
(00:25):
tennessee, in the middle of thenight on July 17, 1996.
A man approaches him and asksif he would like to buy a Nissan
Stanza for $500.
That's a little under $1000 intoday's money.
Jimmy agrees and the two menleave.
The man also offers Jimmy someclothes and a shotgun before
(00:51):
saying he just needs to pickthem up first.
He drives them to Goochie FordRoad about 12 miles out of town
and begins to regale Jimmy witha story about him shooting a man
in the back of the head.
Jimmy thinks this man is just abit bizarre.
They stop on a slab bridgewhere the man jumps down and
(01:12):
pulls a shotgun from beneath thebridge.
Jimmy watches as he empties ashell out of the shotgun and
comes back to the car.
Jimmy also notices shotgunshells scattered around the road
.
After the man returns to thecar he directs Jimmy to take him
to popular village apartmentsback in town.
The pair agrees to meet thenext day around dinner time to
(01:36):
exchange money.
The man writes down his numberand gives his name as Chris.
Jimmy then starts to go throughthe car.
After a cursory look, he findsa day planner, a driver's
license and a social securitycard, all with the name Gregory
Rudolph Dodson Jr.
I don't know if Jimmy wassuspicious before this moment,
(02:01):
but he definitely was now.
1996 was the time of AOL,instant Messenger, nick at Nite,
friends, keenan and Kel.
You could expect to hear MariahCarey, the Macarena and the
Fugees on the radio, and two ofmy favorite childhood films came
out Matilda and Harriet the Spy.
(02:21):
Back in Murfreesboro at 4:45 am, jimmy walked into the
Rutherford Police Department andtold them what had happened and
handed over the evidence he hadfound.
Upon searching the NissanStanza, major Mickey McCullough
and Sergeant Scott Miller foundthe 12-gauge shotgun in the
(02:43):
passenger compartment, as wellas an aluminum baseball bat in
the trunk.
Then Lieutenant Jim Gage,sergeant Miller and Detective
Garry with 2R's Carter went toGoochie Ford Road, to the Slab
Bridge, where Jimmy and the manknown as Chris had been a few
hours earlier.
They found 24 shotgun shells,one spent shotgun shell and an
(03:11):
empty box that said it oncecontained 25 shells, and under
the bridge they found a bloodytowel.
Then, using the details givento Jimmy, the officers went to
East Trimble Road, where theyfollowed a dirt-access road into
a lightly wooded area wherethey immediately saw a crumpled
(03:34):
body laying out in the open.
This is just a trigger warning.
I'm going to give a little bitof detail.
The body was beaten, covered inblood and had a disfigured face
that was distorted by variouscuts and bruises and a shotgun
wound at the back of the head.
(03:55):
The hands were bound withmasking tape, ties and belts and
were near his face.
Officers later reported that italmost looked as if he was
praying.
Major McCullough traced thenumber given to Jimmy to the
apartment of Joy Dodson, whoseaddress was listed in poplar
(04:18):
village apartments.
At 10 am on July 18, 1996,major McCullough, sergeant
Miller, detective Carter,detective Larry Nobles and
Patrol Lieutenant Hugh Joneswent to the apartments While
they were making plans on how toget their suspect.
A man fitting the descriptionJimmy gave them walked out of
(04:40):
Joy Dodson's apartment and lit acigarette.
When the officers approachedhim, he said his name was Chris
Stacey.
He was read as rights andarrested for murder.
So Christopher Lee Stacey wasthe 19-year-old brother of Joy
Dodson.
Joy was married to 22-year-oldGregory Rudolph Dotson Jr.
(05:05):
Major McCullough said when theyarrested Stacey he confessed
and gave statements to motive,purpose and method.
90% of my research came fromarticles written by Lisa
Marchesoni for the Daily NewsJournal and Major McCullough
(05:26):
told her that Greg quote wasknocked unconscious, bound and
driven in his own car.
The perpetrator states he wasbeaten again, knocked
unconscious and shot in the backof the head.
So Greg was born October 19,1973, to mary in Gregory DoDson
(05:49):
Sr.
He was born near Louisville,kentucky.
Both his parents had sincemarried other people.
He had four sisters and twobrothers.
He was a manager at a 7-Elevenin Baltimore, tennessee.
So Greg had moved back in withhis mother because he and Joy
were having some problems.
(06:10):
But they had recently decidedto try and work things out,
partially because they sharedtwo young children,
three-year-old Mary andone-and-a-half-year-old Gregory.
After Stacey was arrested,district Attorney Bill Whitesell
advised the officers to chargehim with first-degree murder.
(06:30):
He was held at RutherfordCounty Adult Detention Center
with a hearing set for July 25.
When officers speak to Greg'swife and Stacey's sister Joy,
she tells them she had left herwork the previous morning and
told Stacey, who was stayingwith her, that Greg was coming
by to see their kids that night.
(06:51):
When she got home in the earlyhours, stacey was
uncharacteristically still awake.
He had told her that Greg hadstopped by and that he was going
to call her at 11 that morning.
Then, during the policequestioning, joy asked why
Dondie Tidwell hadn't beenarrested.
(07:11):
Dondie Tidwell was Joy's andStacy's 19-year-old nephew and
had supposedly also been at herapartment the previous day.
She assumed he had beeninvolved in whatever happened
with Greg.
The next day.
Detective Nobles also receivesan anonymous call that led them
(07:32):
to believe that Dondie Tidwellhad been involved.
When Joy talked to Tidwell, hetold her several versions of
what happened.
All had the same resolution,though he didn't know what was
going on and that he quotedidn't know it was going to
happen like that.
According to Tidwell'sthen-girlfriend, sherry Harris,
(07:55):
she said Tidwell had not beeninvolved, but then he changed
his story, saying he was there,had followed behind Stacy with
Greg's and Joy's children, butleft when Stacy got out the
shotgun.
With these statements, gatheredinformation and other physical
evidence, police arrestedTidwell at his home, rutherford
(08:18):
County Assistant MedicalExaminer Dr.
Charles Harlan had performedthe autopsy on Greg's body by
then and had determined that thespent shotgun shell had come
from the same shotgun that wasused on Greg and, based on the
location of the shotgun, pelletsin the skull had been shot into
the back of his head from adistance of 0 to 24 inches away.
(08:43):
A very close range shot.
Over the next few months, staceyand Tidwell bounce through a
few public defenders andattorneys during preliminary
hearings.
By October the pair get chargedwith first degree murder,
conspiracy to commit firstdegree murder, especially
(09:05):
aggravated kidnapping and cartheft.
I looked this up because I wascurious.
Especially aggravatedkidnapping is when the victim is
either below the age of 13, thevictim is held for ransom or
when the kidnapping is carriedout with a deadly weapon.
That's the one that applies toGreg's case.
Especially aggravatedkidnapping is a Class A felony.
(09:28):
Aggravated kidnapping is aClass B felony and kidnapping is
a Class C felony.
On April 1st of the followingyear, state prosecutors
announced that they will beseeking the death penalty for
both Stacey and Tidwell.
As a wrench in the state's case, though, the Tennessee Supreme
Court had made a ruling six daysprior that lead attorneys in
(09:53):
capital or death penalty casesmust have 12 hours of
specialized training experiencein previous capital cases, or
three murder jury trials, or onemurder jury trial and three
felony jury trials.
Tidwell's attorney, don Bullochno relation to Sandra Bullock
(10:18):
would not qualify, and Stacey'spublic defender, gerald Melton,
said that no one in his officewould qualify.
Assistant District AttorneyPaul Newman no relation to actor
Paul Newman said that he andfive former coworkers had the
special training.
Ada Newman had formerly workedin the public defender's office
(10:38):
in Nashville.
Judge James Clayton "it it waslike someone dropped a 500 pound
bomb in the courtroom.
" Judge Clayton also complainedthat he had just been at a
conference where no onementioned this new filing and
that he would have toindefinitely delay proceedings
until he could discuss it withSupreme Court administrators.
(11:00):
He also said there was no doubtin his mind that all present
counsel was competent.
Attorney Melton said that withthe death penalty there can't be
room for error and that mostdeath penalty appeals are
overturned because the attorneyis found incompetent Quote the
(11:21):
rule is designed to assure thepublic good quality attorneys
are representing death penaltycases.
This will close the loopholeused to get the death penalty
overturned.
A few weeks later they were backin court.
Attorney Melton said he wouldput together a list of qualified
defenders because no one inRutherford County Public
(11:43):
Defender's Office were qualifiedand that he could serve as a
second chair to aid in Stacey'sdefense.
Attorney Bulloch asked towithdraw himself because he
wasn't qualified and JudgeClayton agreed by the end of
October.
Stacey is being represented byAttorney Jim Weatherly, who
states he's investigating thepossibility of an insanity
(12:05):
defense, and Tidwell is beingrepresented by Attorneys Larry
Wallace and Larry Warner-- theLarrys.
There were also a bunch ofpre-trial motions.
One requested separate juriesto determine guilt and then to
determine sentencing if foundguilty.
Another one was forsequestering the jury and
(12:27):
another one was to suppressTidwell's statement to police.
Sergeant Miller testified thatTidwell signed a statement
saying he understood his rightsand made a voluntary statement.
Judge Clayton overruled thatparticular motion.
DA Whitesell also asked thedefense to respond to a filing
(12:48):
he had made the previous Augustrequesting information on a
possible alibi or insanitydefense.
Attorney Weatherly said heneeded more time.
I'm going to pause here and justsay how frustrating it was
seeing how many times GregDodson's name was misspelled.
The first few articles it wasspelled dobson with a B, then
(13:10):
around this time it switched todotson with a T, which was like
another sheriff around, andliterally in a story they had to
say oh, the guy who wasmurdered is not the sheriff, and
it's not even until the trialthat it's spelled correctly as
Dodson with a D.
Okay, rant over, it's not untilApril the following year that
(13:32):
they returned to court.
Stacey's defense requests moretime for mental evaluations.
The prosecutors get veryannoyed by this the day after
Chris Stacey actually escapeswith Stephen Dryden Evans who
was being held on four counts offirst degree murder for
shooting into a crowded party.
He turned himself in thefollowing day but pled not
(13:55):
guilty to escape charges and atthe end of the month Attorney
Melton asked for even more time,which frustrates prosecution
even more.
ADA Tom Jackson says it's timefor us to move on.
In May, ADA Newman requestsdefense give the names of any
(14:15):
experts who will testify aboutTidwell's mental health, if
convicted, and that state mentalhealth experts examined Tidwell
.
If his mental health is plannedto be used during the penalty
phase, judge Clayton rules thatthe state is entitled to know
the expert witnesses.
But there's another wrenchbecause of rulings in another
(14:39):
case.
Judge Cheryl Blackburn had alsoruled that the state was
entitled to any experts beingused in the penalty phase while
she was presiding over the PaulReid case where he was accused
of killing five fast foodworkers in Nashville and two
people in Clarksville.
However, a judge in Clarksvillemade the opposite ruling, so
(15:05):
the conflict of rulings were onappeal at the time.
This does nothing but delay thetrials even longer.
On March 1, 1999, three yearsafter the murder of Greg Dodson,
christopher Lee Stacey pleadsguilty to first-degree murder,
conspiracy to commit murder andespecially aggravated kidnapping
(15:28):
.
He will serve a minimum of 51years before being eligible for
parole, which would be in 2047when he is 70 years old.
Judge Clayton asks why are youentering pleas of guilty?
Stacey replies because it's theright thing to do.
Judge Clayton asks do you feellike you're guilty of those
(15:51):
charges?
Stacey replies yes, sir.
Stacey then allocutes whathappened that night and there's
a trigger warning because of allthese details.
According to Stacey, greg cameinto the apartment to see his
kids but gets in an argumentwith Stacey and Tidwell.
During the argument, gregthreatens to "whoop, his own
(16:15):
wife, tidwell.
Stacey and their girlfriends,stacey and Tidwell talk about
beating Greg up before Staceypicks up an aluminum baseball
bat and hits Greg in the chest.
Tidwell then gets a trowel usedfor concrete finishing and
starts beating Greg with it.
Greg resisted both attacks,which are being perpetrated in
(16:40):
front of his children.
Tidwell then ushers the kidsinto the other room and collects
belts, ties and tape.
Greg asked to be taken to thehospital.
Both men bind Greg and coverhis hands with a towel before
Stacey walks him out of theapartment into Greg's Nissan
stanza.
(17:00):
Tidwell then puts the kids inanother car and follows Stacey
as they pulled out of theapartment complex.
When they get to the dirtaccess road, more arguing ensues
until Tidwell hands Stacey theshotgun.
When asked if Dondie Tidwelltold Stacey to shoot Greg,
(17:22):
stacey replied me and Dondie's.
Like brothers, we can read eachother's minds.
Tidwell then turned up themusic in the car so the kids
wouldn't hear the shotgun blast.
They then abandoned Greg's body.
Stacey said he would dispose ofthe gun while Tidwell returned
to the apartment to clean up.
(17:44):
Stacey then testifies thatTidwell had been trying to get
him to take the fall for thewhole thing and was offering
candy and cigarettes in jail tobribe him to do so.
Attorney Weatherly questionedpsychiatrist Dr William Burnett
about Stacey.
Dr Burnett testifies thatStacey was competent to stand
trial but that two IQ testsshowed that he was mildly
(18:08):
mentally retarded with only afifth grade education.
And that's where we'll pick upon Friday.
Thank you again for listeningto Murder is Bad.
If you would like to see imagesrelated to this case, @m
urderisbadpodcast can check itout on Instagram.
(18:31):
I don't know if I'm going to beon any other socials right now,
so just go on over to Instagramfor now.
Take care of each other andremember murder is bad.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com