KNOXVILLE — Four men, including one from Sevierville, have now been convicted and sentenced for a 2018 incident that led to the shooting death of a 19-year-old Sevierville man.
Bryson McGrotha died on Oct. 31 in an altercation with several other men in Knox County.
Warrants said that the group of four told police they’d been robbed when they went to buy drugs, and went to a home in South Knoxville looking for the man that took their money.
McGrotha hadn’t been involved in the alleged robbery, but he was standing nearby and was struck when they spotted their target and at least two of the four men opened fire.
McGrotha died from the injuries he suffered that day, and one other person was injured but survived.
Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen said Tuesday that all four men have now been convicted, with two getting life sentences for their part in the crimes.
Twenty-eight-year-old Bobby Allen Hansard, also of Sevierville, was sentenced to life in prison after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Police told the jury that Hansard was one of the gunmen who fired into the groups, Allen said.
He’ll have to serve 51 years in prison before he is eligible for parole on the life sentence.
“We have always aggressively prosecuted gun violence, and we will continue to do so to make our community safer,” Allen said.
A jury convicted a second man, 22-year-old Sean Allen Longmire, of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. He also was sentenced to life in prison, Allen said.
The other defendants — Elijah Dozard and Joseph Dallas Bellew — got lesser sentences after they entered guilty pleas to facilitation of murder and aggravated assault.
Dozard will serve 18 years in prison and Bellew will serve 15, Allen said.
Contact Jeff at jfarrell@themountainpress.com or Twitter at @jeffmtnpress
