As the Chronicle goes to press Thursday afternoon, a Cumberland County jury is deliberating the fate of Thomas Mack Arnold Sr., 41, accused of the first-degree murder of Billy Ray Jones, 63, of 25 Christian Rd. on Sept. 27, 2020.
There has been little or no dispute that Arnold — known as Tommy — was responsible for Jones’ death.
What is disputed are events leading up to the fatal shooting that took place off Brewer Rd. in the Vandever community.
In his opening statement, defense attorney Robert Marlow told the jury, “There are facts that are not in dispute.”
Central to the homicide was a stolen camper belonging to Arnold’s wife, Amy Arnold.
Marlow said Tommy Arnold traveled to the Jones home to confront Billy Jones about the theft and following a heated confrontation, a knife was pulled by the victim and his client shot in self-defense.
Assistant District Attorney Allison Null countered, “He (Arnold) entered a house where he was not wanted, armed and wearing a clown mask.”
And Assistant District Attorney Philip Hatch went further in his questioning of Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Luke Webb, in response to questions from Marlow.
In a loud courtroom voice, Hatch asked Webb who went to the house to confront Billy Jones, who said they were bringing a “sling-shot,” who was not found at the scene and who was found eight hours later in South Georgia.
Webb responded to each question, “Tommy Arnold.”
Arnold didn’t like that exchange and raised his hand as if to be recognized to speak. Marlow quickly whispered to his client, and the hand was lowered. Arnold was never recognized. For Arnold to speak at that time would have been against court rules of procedure. He would have the option later as to whether to testify or not.
Prosecutors have the burden of proof and presented their case against Arnold first.
First witness called by the state was T.J. Williams Jr., records custodian for E-911. The 911 call received at 6:22 p.m. Sept. 27, 2020, was from a man at the scene reporting a man shot in the chest. The caller reported the single shotgun blast came from a man wearing a clown mask entering through a back door.
The caller — later identified as the second witness, Jason Bouko, reported he was alone in the house with the victim and that the shooter had jumped into a car “and peeled out of here.”
Bouko went on to state he jumped out a window and fled from the house when the shot rang out and returned after the shooter left.
He reported six to eight people present when the man came in really fast, argued with the victim and during that argument, heard a loud bang.
When Bouko took the stand, he testified there were many people present for an event called the Gambler. He described the scene as chaotic when the man wearing “some crazy clown mask” started arguing with Billy Jones. At one point, Bouko testified, Jones told the man, “Just shoot me.”
“And, he did,” Bouko continued.
During his testimony, Bouko said he learned later his dad and Maryann Crain went through the victim’s wallet as he laid mortally wounded and took the victim’s credit/debit card.
He quoted his father as stating, “Maryann beat me to it.”
“We all had drug habits and were high or asleep … many hours of mood erased … pretty much everyone was on drugs,” Bouko continued.
Under cross examination from Marlow, Bouko said he heard Maryann say the victim had pulled a knife. He also testified there were up to half a dozen security cameras that stayed on day and night, recording comings and goings at the house on multiple displays on a large TV in the living room.
Bouko said the TV’s only purpose was as a monitor for the cameras. He described the set-up as a “status thing for tweakers.”
When the shooting took place, the cameras were not displaying on the TV, and he did not know who took the DVR.
When asked by Null about the credit card, Buoko said, “Dad and Maryann used the card.”
The third witness called by the state was Branson Eldridge, son and stepson of Amy and Tommy Arnold.
He testified he saw the two arrive in the same vehicle, Tommy exit the car and run up the hill to the house. He said he heard screaming, a gunshot and then saw Amy and Tommy leave together.
Leading up to this was his mother’s camping trailer being removed from the property by unknown persons. Some of his personal property was also missing.
Next to testify was Mike Jones, brother of Billy Jones, who was sitting in a recliner with his brother on a nearby couch when he saw a man “with something on his face” enter the living room from the kitchen.
He said the man had a shotgun and shot his brother. Mike Jones then said he fled into the nearby woods until law enforcement arrived.
Jones said earlier in the day he witnessed his brother and Amy Arnold argue about a missing credit card, and later testified Amy fired a shot into the house from the road.
“I didn’t think nothing about it … I thought it was someone acting stupid,” Jones said.
Under questioning from Marlow, Jones said that while words were exchanged, he did not see a physical confrontation.
Jones twice told the court he was trying to “wash the whole thing from my mind.” When asked by Marlow if there was a gun standing against a corner of the living room, Jones replied, “If there had been, I would have used it … he shot my brother.”
On the second day of the trial, prosecutors called Rian Snow to the stand. He testified he had known Tommy Arnold for 20 years. On the night of the shooting, Arnold asked Snow to drive him to Florida so Arnold could visit his parents and Snow agreed.
He said Arnold showed up “when it was dark” and the two and a woman headed down I-75 to Georgia where law enforcement in Crisp County, GA, stopped his vehicle.
Crisp County Sheriff’s Cpl. Michael Telfair was next to testify. During his testimony, a body camera with audio showing Arnold being taken into custody was played for the jury. At the time, Telfair was employed by the Cordelle Police Department in the same county.
In the recording, Arnold is heard asking to make a phone call to his parents to let them know he was not coming to visit. Arnold then stated a guy in Tennessee pulled a knife on him during a confrontation over a stolen camper and that he shot the man in self-defense.
At no point did officers involved in the felony stop ask Arnold questions, and his comments were viewed as “excited utterances,” which are admissible as evidence.
At one point, Arnold is heard telling Snow the traffic stop was “about that (expletive) in Tennessee. Sorry, man, you didn’t know.” At another point, he asked to be extradited “right away,” and in another part of the tape he utters, “I ain’t no cold-blooded killer.”
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Luke Webb was the case agent for the investigation. His photos were introduced as evidence, including one showing the victim’s body lying on its side on the couch and another showing a small knife lying on an air vent.
Also introduced were phone records from Amy Arnold and Tommy Arnold’s cellphones.
In one text to Austin Randolph, Amy Arnold wrote, “Billy took my camper and your car.”
In a text to Eldridge, Amy Arnold wrote, “Tell Tommy to be on standby … going to beat Billy.” A text to Eldridge also instructs him to remove the DVR from the house.
In a text from Tommy Arnold to Amy, the defendant wrote, “Headed to you … don’t stop … got my sling shot.” The “sling shot” reference, Webb said, was slang for weapon.
Minutes later, Jones was dead.
Webb also testified, when asked by Marlow, that the elder Buoko and Maryann Crain were later charged with using the victim’s credit/debit card.
Webb also responded to questions about interviewing Amy Arnold several times.
“She has given conflicting statements,” he said.
Dr. Thomas Deering, senior assistant medical examiner and forensic pathologist, was the last state witness. He performed the autopsy on Jones’ body and concluded cause of death was a shotgun wound to the chest. Manner of death was homicide. Mechanism of death was internal bleeding and massive injury to the liver.
While small amounts of meth, amphetamine and alcohol were found in tests, along with psoriasis of the liver, none of these were enough to have contributed to death.
In addition to the liver, a slug from a shotgun caused damaged the chest, kidney, diaphragm and ribs. The injuries caused massive internal bleeding that Deering said was fatal.
When asked if Jones could have been saved had he been shot outside an emergency room, Deering’s answer was no.
Deering added, based on evidence from the wound, the shot was fired from about 6-10 feet away.
With that, the state rested its case.
Marlow called two witnesses Wednesday afternoon — a 17-year-old neighbor and Harlan Phillips.
The 17-year-old — who was 14 at the time — said he lived about a football field distance from the Jones house and was sitting on his porch, eating pizza and looking at the comings and goings across the street while checking his cellphone.
He testified he was looking at his phone when he hard a gunshot, saw someone return to a vehicle and everyone flee the residence.
He was too far away to identify anyone and did not see anyone with a gun or a clown mask.
Phillips testified about his numerous convictions for theft and said he was with Tommy Arnold on that Sunday until about 5:30-6, when he dropped him off at the Dollar General Store near the Vandever Rd./Lantana Rd. intersection. Phillips said Arnold told him he was meeting Cherie Reid, and the two were going to Cookeville.
Phillips said he never saw Reid or Arnold again that night.
At press time, a decision was expected on whether Arnold would testify in his own defense.