CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The jury came back with a verdict of guilty on the lesser charge of second-degree murder in the trial of 28-year-old Eric Caffey, who was accused in the robbery and shooting death of 42-year-old Christopher Young.
Caffey was acquitted on the aggravated robbery charge.
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In the early morning hours of May 13, 2020, Clarksville Police were dispatched to the 2800 block of Cobalt Drive due to multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting. Police found Young hanging out of his SUV with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Witnesses told police a man had approached Young’s SUV and said, “Give me your (expletive)!” before hitting Young in the face multiple times and then pulling out a pistol and shooting him several times.
In August 2020, the Montgomery County grand jury indicted Caffey and Amber Lynn Tanner, 26, of Hanceville, Alabama, on charges of murder and aggravated robbery.
(Adria Hyde)
Prosecution places Caffey at scene
Tanner, Caffey’s ex-girlfriend, testified that she and Caffey had come to Clarksville to make a drug deal that night.
Assistant District Attorney Mike Pugh told jurors early Monday morning during closing arguments that the testimony of Tanner placed Caffey in the driver’s seat the night of the murder, as did a Snapchat photo that she took, dated just hours before the shooting.
Pugh said other evidence placing Caffey near the scene was video surveillance footage at a Shell Station just down the road. Tanner said Caffey and a man she called “White Boy,” Riyad O. Baker, were seen getting in and out of Tanner’s 2008 Volkswagen Jetta several times.
Clarksville Police experts were able to pull information from Tanner’s phone placing the two just three minutes away from the scene 30 minutes after the shooting.
Pugh reminded jurors that Tanner had testified she heard Caffey say he had hit a man on the head with a gun. Pugh said blood was found on the inside driver’s door handle of Tanner’s car that was identified as Young’s blood.
Defense’s closing arguments
Travis Meeks, defense council for Caffey, said the prosecution’s case was built on police investigative work that could be at best described as cognitive bias. This is where you are interested only in collecting evidence that supports your conclusion, Meeks told jurors. “They started with Eric Caffey and then they ran with it,” he said.
“There were no drugs other than a marijuana joint,” Meeks told jurors, asking what made authorities believe that it was a drug deal gone bad. “The defendant doesn’t have a motive.”
Meeks said witnesses at the scene heard and saw things that night that police did not follow up on. The witnesses were outside an apartment adjacent to the parking lot where the shooting occurred.
One witness heard someone say, “Gimme your (stuff),” and then saw a tall Black man with short dreads wearing a black hoodie running from the scene. Tanner testified that Caffey had never had dreads, nor was he wearing a black hoodie that night.
Meeks also reminded jurors of testimony about another possible suspect that police didn’t pursue.
“It is the state’s duty to gather, preserve and produce evidence,” Meeks said. “Are your doubts reasonable? Can you sleep at night?”
Sentencing is scheduled for held Nov. 16 at the Montgomery County Courts Center.