Jury finds Oak Ridge man Sean Finnegan guilty of first-degree murder

A 12-member Anderson County jury on Monday found 56-year-old Sean Shannon Finnegan guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of Jennifer Gail Paxton, a 36-year-old homeless woman who grew up in Knoxville.

On Tuesday, the jury will reconvene at 10 a.m. to begin the process of deciding whether to give the Oak Ridge man the death penalty.

Finnegan was found guilty of:

• Two counts of first-degree murder
• Criminally negligent homicide (instead of another count of first-degree murder charge)
• Attempted aggravated rape
• Aggravated rape
• Aggravated kidnapping
• Especially aggravated kidnapping
• Conspiracy to commit aggravated rape
• Conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping
• Abuse of a corpse
• Tampering with evidence

He was found not guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and another count of aggravated rape.

The jury's verdict was read by Special Judge Don Ash in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton shortly after 5:10 p.m. Monday, which is one week after the jury was selected.

Finnegan faced 13 charges in the killing of Paxton, who was described by attorneys and relatives as a homeless woman and drug addict who sometimes worked as a prostitute to support herself and her drug habit. One family member told the court last week that at one time Paxton had worked as a housekeeper. She was also a mother of seven children, but she lost custody of the children. The oldest would be 21 now, a relative said.

Paxton was said to have lived in homeless camps near Merchants Drive and Chapman Highway in Knoxville. Merchants Drive is the location of the bar where Finnegan worked as a cook most days, attorney Rodgers said, and often 12-hour shifts or more. He had lived in Oak Ridge for several years before Oak Ridge police found the frozen body of Paxton under his bed in early August 2020. Paxton's body had many cuts and her nose was cut off. She was choked to death, according to forensic medical authorities.

Assistant District Attorneys Sarah Winningham Keith and Kevin Allen said Paxton's body had been kept for about eight months in a freezer in the bedroom, but quickly moved by Finnegan to a place under his bed before police arrived to search for the body. They believe she was strangled to death in December 2019. Finnegan's girlfriend or fiance, 26-year-old Rebecca Dishman, told officers that Finnegan killed Paxton, strangling her with string over a lengthy period of time, taking breaks, and stopping to smoke.

Dishman reached a plea agreement with the district attorney general's office last year, pleading guilty to first-degree murder and agreeing to testify against Finnegan in return for a life sentence, instead of the death penalty, which is what the state is seeking against him.

The Oak Ridger's News Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Email her at dsmith@oakridger.com and follow her on Twitter@ridgernewsed.

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This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Jury finds Oak Ridge man Sean Finnegan guilty of first-degree murder