Nashville Jury Sentences Burnette Chapel Shooter To Life Without Parole

A Nashville jury has sentenced the man who shot eight people at an Antioch church, including one fatality, to life in prison without a possibility parole — the maximum sentence sought by prosecutors.

Jurors took about 90 minutes to deliberate the fate of Emanuel Samson, who last week was found guilty on all 43 counts related to the 2017 rampage at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ.

Prosecutors did not ask for the death penalty, but jurors were given the alternative of allowing Samson to become eligible for parole after 51 years, the standard for a life sentence in Tennessee.

Samson was arrested at the scene of the shooting after being confronted by an armed congregant and accidentally shooting himself. His guilt was not questioned during the trial, which instead focused on his motives for the attack.

Prosecutors argued Samson, who is black, acted out of racial animus. All of the victims at Burnette Chapel are white, and Samson left a note saying he wished to avenge the 2015 shooting of black congregants at a South Carolina church.

Prosecutors also played tapes of phone calls recorded while Samson was in jail in which he joked with his then-girlfriend about the shooting spree. 

For their part, Samson and his legal team claimed he was suffering from mental illness at the time of the shooting. During the sentencing phase on Tuesday, Samson’s attorney, Jennifer Thompson, also pointed to his traumatic childhood of abuse and living in a refugee camp.

“His family is not here today to ask you, but I’m standing in the place of his family,” she said, her voice shaking with emotion. “I’m asking you to please — for Emanuel Samson’s sake — give him some grace.”

The defense also called several witnesses who could attest to Samson’s mental illness, including a forensic psychologist from Vanderbilt. He suggested Samson could have been in a partial dissociative state when he carried out the shooting. 

When he testified during the trial, Samson said he could not recall many details of that day. But prosecutors questioned whether the forgetfulness could be a legal strategy. 

They also argued that Samson has shown no remorse and contend the shooting was premeditated, warranting life without parole.

Deputy district attorney Amy Hunter closed by telling jurors to think of the trauma to those who were in Burnette Chapel on that Sunday morning.

“I’m going to ask you to remember the tremor in their voices when they came in here to face their monster,” she said. “I’m going to ask you to remember … the children who once came to that church, the children who are now afraid to come back to church, the children who say, ‘If I go to church today, am I going to die?’ ”