A jury for the second time has convicted Randall Reed of first-degree murder in the 2011 death of 70-year-old Jane Stokes in East Ridge.
The verdict was returned in the courtroom of Judge Tom Greenholtz’s on Friday.
The earlier verdict had been thrown out by an appeals court.
Reed testified in his own behalf.
The victim was murdered in her home during a robbery in 2011. Her hands were zip-tied behind her back and her head was wrapped in cellophane. An autopsy revealed that she died from suffocation.
Evidence in the case showed Reed using the victim’s debit card at an ATM on Brainerd Road hours after the murder. Reed also testified to previously doing construction work at the victim’s house prior to the incident.
In 2013, Reed was tried before a Hamilton County Jury and sentenced to life in prison for the murder, to be served concurrently with sentences for especially aggravated robbery, theft of property, and four counts of fraudulent use of a debit card.
The defendant later appealed the ruling, referencing a court error where witness Milo Geiger testified that he had agreed to take a lie detector test and Reed had not. The defendant also argued that the court improperly admitted photos of the victim, failed to instruct the jury on one of the lesser offenses, and that the evidence was simply insufficient to support his conviction.
After a review of the record, Reed’s appeal for a new trial was granted.