A Clay County judge sentenced 30-year-old Jacob Stanley Snyder to life in prison Tuesday for first-degree murder.
Snyder was indicted earlier this year in the shooting death of 11-year-old Harley Evans last October.
Bryant Dunaway serves as the 13th Judicial District Attorney General.
“We wanted to hold Snyder responsible. His actions can’t be described as anything other than pure evil, so we wanted to make sure he was held accountable for that,” Dunaway said. “The law enforcement community really conducted a good investigation. The Clay County Sheriff’s Department, TBI, [Tennessee] Highway Patrol, even the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department on the day of the event.”
Snyder entered a guilty plea on one count of premeditated first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. The judge issued a 60-year life sentence for the murder charge and an additional 33 years for each attempted murder charge.
“The Clay County community was rocked by this. We had the murder of an 11-year-old young lady, the attempted murder of her 10-year-old sister, as well as their father and another adult,” Dunaway said. “It really shook the community of Clay [County], and the community really rallied behind the families and really supported them.”
Evans’ father, Justin Evans, and his girlfriend were both injured when the shooting occurred.
Logan Weaver Media 