A Tennessee man will spend the next 30 years in prison for killing his mother because he was upset about losing phone privileges. On Monday, Shawn Tyler Willis, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder in the 2020 shooting of Sandy K. Willis.
On April 20, 2020, Anderson County Sheriff’s deputies found Sandy Willis dead in her bed at her home on Andys Ridge Road in Rocky Top, about 26 miles northwest of Knoxville, according to Law & Crime.
She had been shot at close range on the left side of her head — with her own gun — while she slept.
Immediately after his plea, Willis was sentenced to 30 years in state prison. Unlike most similar sentences in Tennessee, he will serve “100%” of his time with no chance of parole, according to District Attorney General Dave Clark.
At the time of the killing, Willis was only 16 years old. Prosecutors agreed to reduce the charge from first-degree murder to second-degree in exchange for the guilty plea.
On the day of the murder, Willis called his girlfriend claiming he had found his mother in bed covered in blood. The girlfriend’s father came to the home, found Sandy unresponsive, and called police. Investigators said Willis gave “numerous conflicting stories” before eventually confessing in May 2020 during a voluntary interview with Detective Don Scuglia.
According to a juvenile court petition, “Shawn T. Willis confessed to taking his mother’s pistol from off of her nightstand as she was asleep… Shawn took the pistol downstairs, as to conceal the sound of loading it, then Shawn returned back upstairs to his mother’s room… positioned himself alongside her bed, and shot her at close range, on the left side of her head, thus causing her death.”
Authorities later determined Willis shot his mother twice after she came home from working a night shift. The killing happened after he “became upset” because she had taken away his cell phone. After protesting, Sandy went upstairs to sleep — and Willis carried out the attack.
Sandy Willis’s obituary described her as someone who “loved horses, butterflies, flowers, reading books, arts & crafts, sewing but… loved her boys and family most of all.”
“This shocking crime demanded justice, and I am happy that it has been resolved as well as the law will allow,” Clark said in a statement. “We remain grateful for the support of this grieving family that has suffered a wound that cannot heal.”
Her family was in court for the sentencing and was “pleased” with the resolution, prosecutors said. Clark noted the sentence was “heavily influenced by restrictions” on punishments for juvenile murderers in Tennessee.
