Two weeks set aside in August for trial of Oak Ridge man accused of murder, torture
Two weeks have been set aside in August for the trial of Sean Shannon Finnegan, the 56-year-old man facing charges of first-degree murder and rape in the torture slaying of a woman in Oak Ridge in August 2020.
The jury trial is set for Aug. 12-23 in Anderson County Criminal Court, according to information from the county Circuit Court Clerk office.
David S. Clark, Anderson County district attorney general, is seeking the death penalty against Finnegan, who is being legally represented by Knoxville attorneys Christopher "Kit" Rodgers and Forrest Wallace. Don R. Ash is the special judge assigned to the case.
Finnegan and Rebecca Dishman, 25, were arrested on Aug. 6, 2020, for the death of Jennifer Gail Paxton, 36, who police say had been living with the two in the home the duo shared at 318 E. Fairview Road in Oak Ridge. Both Finnegan and Dishman have been in the Anderson County jail in Clinton since they were arrested on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Legal documents filed in the case indicate the offenses occurred in December 2019.
Their bonds were set at $1 million each.
Dishman pleaded guilty Sept. 5, 2023, to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. As reported by The Oak Ridger earlier, Dishman - as a condition of her plea - is required to cooperate with Clark's office in its case against Finnegan.
Dishman also entered a guilty plea of two counts of child rape in a separate case. Fifty years were added to her life sentence because of those two charges. She and Finnegan were indicted in 2021 by an Anderson County grand jury on multiple charges of rape and exploitation of a child, reportedly in May 2020.
The Oak Ridge Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigated the suspects at the time of their arrest in August 2020. When officers executed a search warrant at the home, they said they found Paxton's body in a freezer.
In warrants, an Oak Ridge police sergeant said Finnegan and Dishman “lured the victim (Paxton) to the home with the promise of giving her a place to stay.”
In the warrants, Oak Ridge Police Department Sgt. A. Marvell Moore said Paxton was “held against her will,” struck with a baseball bat and raped.
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: Two weeks set aside in August for Oak Ridge man's murder trial
