Hubert Glenn Sexton
This article is about a living person.
Hubert Glenn Sexton Jr. (born March 1, 1972) is a Scott County man convicted of killing a Huntsville man and his wife in their sleep in 2000. He was originally sentenced to death, though the death penalty was later overturned. He is serving a life sentence.
Biography
Born March 1, 1972, Glenn Sexton’s parents divorced when he was six years old, and he did not live with either parent thereafter. It was later estimated that he lived with between six and eight families between the ages of six and 18, none for more than a few months at a time. It was said that he lived in 26 different residences before turning 18.
Sexton married Sherry Sexton, and lived in Cleveland, Tenn. prior to his arrest.
Allegations of child sex abuse
On May 20, 2000, Glenn Sexton shot and killed Stanley Goodman and Terri Sue Goodman as they slept in their bed at their home in Scott County. Their bodies were discovered the next morning by Stanley Goodman’s minor daughter, who lived with the couple.
The murders took place four days after another of Stanley Goodman’s minor daughters, an 8-year-old girl, reported to authorities that she had been sexually abused by Sexton. The second daughter lived in Cleveland with Glenn and Sherry Sexton. Two more of Terry Goodman’s children lived with them, as did Glenn Sexton’s daughter.
Sexton was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder. On July 18, 2000, 8th Judicial District Attorney General William Paul Phillips filed a notice that he would seek the death penalty for each of the murders.
The child abuse investigation had been initiated in March 2000. A TN Dept. of Children’s Services case worker in Bradley County, Tenn. interviewed the girl who lived with the Sextons on March 17, 2000 at the request of the DCS in Scott County, Tenn. However, no charges resulted from the investigation.
On May 16, 2000, the DCS case worker received another report involving the girl from her school. Allegedly, the girl told authorities that Sexton had abused her the night before. When Sexton did not arrive at the DCS for a meeting that afternoon, law enforcement officers accompanied DCS to the Sexton residence in Cleveland, where all three of the children living there were taken into custody.
Allegedly, DCS’s investigation revealed that Sexton had forced the child to perform oral sex, telling her that she would “never see her dad again” if she didn’t. Sexton denied the allegations, saying that Goodman had convinced the child to make up the story. He alleged that Goodman had called him three months earlier and played an audiotape of himself coaching the child to make allegations of sexual abuse against Sexton. He claimed that Goodman was angry because the Sextons, who had lived with the Goodmans in Scott County before moving to Cleveland, had moved out of the home and taken two of the three Goodman children with them.
During the course of the interrogation, Sexton allegedly said to the case worker that he could “sign papers saying I did it and serve two or three years in jail and we can be a family again.”
After being informed of the investigation in Cleveland, Goodman allegedly told authorities in Bradley County that he intended to file a petition seeking custody of the children.
The Goodman murders
A Bradley County law enforcement officer allegedly overheard Sexton saying that he would not go to jail for child abuse, adding: “If I go to jail for anything, it would be for murder.”
Later, a coworker testified, Goodman asked him where he could acquire a .22 or .25 caliber handgun, so that he could “try to take care of the matter before it could escalate.” Sexton denied to his coworker that he had sexually abused Goodman’s daughter.
At 6 p.m. on the evening of May 20, 2000, Sexton visited an acquaintance at a muffler shop in Cleveland, where he asked for his .22 caliber rifle that had been stored at the acquaintance’s residence, saying that he had to “take care of some business in Scott County.”
That same evening, Goodman’s minor daughter who lived in the home left the residence with her aunt, Goodman’s sister. She returned around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. Her father and his wife had already retired for the evening and there were no lights on at the home.
At 3:30 a.m. that night, Sexton’s acquaintance in Cleveland visited the Sexton home, and testified that Sexton appeared to be drunk, while his wife was upset. At 8:30 a.m. the next morning, Sexton took the acquaintance and the acquaintance’s girlfriend to Denny’s for breakfast, where he admitted to killing the Goodmans.
Sexton allegedly confessed to his coworker that he had killed the Goodmans on Monday, May 22. He said that he had purchased a hood, sweats and gloves at a Dollar General store, after which he shot the Goodmans as they slept in their bedroom before burning his clothes and the wooden stock of his rifle. He told his coworker that he had worn oversized shoes to confuse investigators and that he had changed the tires on his vehicle. His acquaintance told police that Sexton purchased two tires at the muffler shop where he worked, while a worker at the Dollar General in Cleveland was able to identify Sexton from a photograph and told investigators he had paid $10.83 for a fleece shirt and pants.
Investigators established that Sexton was having an affair with a woman who lived in the same trailer park as the Sextons and who babysat their children. She told police that Sexton had told her about the child abuse allegations and swore that “he would kill (Goodman) for this.” She told authorities that Sexton had shown up at her residence on Sunday, May 21, 2000 in a frenzied state, saying that his wife had left him and her car was at the police station. When she asked him if he had killed the Goodmans, he initially said no, but then admitted to “blowing them son of a bitches full of holes,” according to trial testimony.
Sexton was arrested on May 25, 2000.
At trial, witnesses for the state testified that nine spent shell casings had been found on the floor of the Goodmans’ bedroom. Stanley Goodman had been shot four times in the face and once in the arm. His spinal cord was severed by one of the shots. His wife was shot three times in the face and once in the side of the head.
Death sentence overturned
A jury deliberated only a short time before finding Sexton guilty and sentencing him to death for each of the murders.
Sexton filed a motion for a new trial on July 30, 2001, and filed amendments in November 2004 and November 2007. On Jan. 24, 2008, a trial court denied his appeal. Later, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the murder convictions and death sentences.
In February 2012, the Tennessee Supreme Court heard Sexton’s appeal, and in May 2012 issued a ruling striking down the death penalties, though they upheld the murder convictions. The basis for overturning the death sentence was based on several findings of improprieties at the original trial, including an improper striking of jurors, prejudicial error in the admission of evidence, and improper comments by prosecutors during the opening statement and closing arguments. The case was remanded to the 8th Judicial District Criminal Court for a new sentencing hearing, at which point District Attorney General William Paul Phillips announced that the state would no longer seek the death penalty.
Aftermath
Sexton is currently housed at the Northeast Correctional Complex. He is serving a 60-year sentence, which is scheduled to end Oct. 14, 2057. Sexton would be 85 at that time.