Medlin Guilty: Voluntary Manslaughter
A Benton County jury—after about three hours of deliberation—found a Decatur County man charged with first degree murder guilty of a lesser offense: voluntary manslaughter.
Kevin Medlin, who confessed to killing Perry County resident Jerrel Barber in October 2018 in Decatur County, is free on bond awaiting his April 18 sentencing.
Tennessee Code defines voluntary manslaughter as the “intentional or knowing killing of another in a state of passion produced by adequate provocation sufficient to lead a reasonable person to act in an irrational manner.”
The Class C felony carries a jail sentence of three to fifteen years.
Medlin has already served two years after he was originally denied bond on the first degree murder charges. Now-retired 24th District Judge C. Creed McGinley granted bail to Medlin and other inmates in 2020.
Sitting Judge Neil Thompson presided over the case which was moved to Benton County to insure an impartial jury; he will decide Medlin’s sentence.
Jerry and Margie Barber, Jerrel’s parents, were in Camden last Monday through Thursday for the trial, but were not allowed in the courtroom because the district attorney had them listed as potential witnesses; neither was called to testify.
Please see the Barbers’ letter on page four.
The story should read, presiding Judge was Judge J. Brent Bradberry, elected Circuit Judge last August and by the prosecution District Attorney General Neil Thompson, also elected last August.