Marcus Eugene Sutton, 21, has been given a 40-year prison sentence for a Rossville murder as well as a second Rossville shooting and assaulting an inmate.
Sutton also was sentenced in a second shooting in Rossville.
He is to serve 30 years, then be on probation for 10 years.
Sutton entered pleas of guilty in the three separate pending criminal cases in the Superior Court of Walker County. Judge Jon B.
Wood sentenced Sutton.
Prosecutors said on Sept. 29, 2013, Sutton and Tyler Roberts called Terrance Dillard via cellphone and told him they were coming to kill him. The two drove to an apartment building in Rossville, where they believed Dillard to be. Sutton stopped the car in the roadway where Roberts got out and fired several shots into the apartments. After the shooting, Dillard told officers with the Rossville Police Department that he was across the street at the time and witnessed the shooting. Shell casings from a .40 caliber firearm were recovered at the scene. Later, Dillard denied having witnessed anything. No gun was ever recovered.
Sutton entered pleas of guilty to three counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal damage to property in the first degree. He received a sentence of 20 years with the first 10 years to be served in custody, to be served consecutively to his sentence on the voluntary manslaughter charge.
Prosecutors said on Oct. 30, 2013, while at a residence in Rossville, Sutton got into an argument with Anderson Watts. Sutton shot Watts seven times with a .40 caliber handgun and Watts died as a result of the wounds. Sutton immediately fled.
A joint investigation by the Walker County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was begun. Ultimately, the investigation led state and federal authorities in both Georgia and Tennessee to begin an intensive search for Sutton. On Nov. 5, 2013, Sutton was discovered hiding in a residence located on Fifth Avenue in Chattanooga. He was taken into custody by officers with the Chattanooga Police Department and the United States Marshal Fugitive Task Force. Sutton was transported to the Walker County jail.
No weapon was recovered in connection with the shooting. Sutton entered a plea of guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of Watts and received the maximum sentence of 20 years to be served in confinement.
Prosecutors said on March 27, 2014, while in the custody of the Walker County Jail on the above charges, Sutton and another inmate, Brandon Chase Lonas, assaulted a third inmate, Steven Adam Powell. This assault resulted in significant injuries to Powell, it was stated.
Sutton entered pleas of guilty to charges of riot in a penal institution and aggravated assault. On these charges, Sutton was sentenced to serve 20 years with the first 10 years to be served in custody, consecutive to the sentence for voluntary manslaughter and concurrently with his sentences for shooting into the apartments.
The cases were prosecuted by District Attorney Herbert E. "Buzz" Franklin. The defendant was represented by David Dunn, chief public defender.