September 21, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Defendants convicted in three high profile cases will be back in court this fall. Two of them, 55 year old Gary Wayne Ponder and 31 year old Andrew Billings will be sentenced and the third, 28 year old Cody Ryan Key will be seeking post conviction relief.
Ponder was convicted in July for setting fire in a courthouse vestibule recycling bin on June 14, 2016 causing more than $100,000 in damage to the building.
After hearing several hours of testimony, it took a jury, made up of six men and six women, less than half an hour to deliver it’s verdict. Guilty as charged for aggravated arson.
The range of punishment for this Class-A felony offense is from 15-25 years.
Ponder had been scheduled for sentencing Friday, September 20 but the hearing has been reset for December 10th.
Billings’ sentencing hearing has also been rescheduled for December 10th. It had been set for Friday, September 20.
He was convicted as charged of attempted first degree murder in a 2017 knife attack on his wife Adriana. The trial was held in August and it took only 25 minutes for a jury panel of 7 men and 5 women to find him guilty. Along with the verdict, the jury also assessed a $50,000 fine..
As an A felony the range of punishment for this offense is from 15-25 years.
Key is serving a 45 year prison sentence for second degree murder in the death of his girlfriend’s 23 month old son Colten Alexander May on May 17, 2015.
Key is seeking a modification of his sentence in a post conviction relief petition and the hearing, set for Friday, September 20, has been rescheduled for November 1.
Meanwhile the child’s mother, 23 year old Jessica Ashley May, serving an eight year sentence for attempted aggravated child neglect stemming from the fatal beating of her son by Key is reportedly out of prison after completing her term. According to the Tennessee Department of Correction website, May’s sentence expired July 23, 2019.
May entered a plea to attempted aggravated child neglect, a Class B felony in December, 2016 and received an eight year sentence as a range I mitigated offender to serve at least 20% before parole eligibility. She had already served 568 days by that time since her arrest on May 19, 2015.
Law enforcement officers concluded that while Key was the one who had actually severely beaten the child May knew the abuse had taken place and didn’t try to stop it.