During sentencing for Dickson County, Tennessee murderer Steven Wiggins this week, prosecutors played a recording wherein Wiggins spoke to his 10-year-old son on the phone from prison and asked the child to “kick [the child’s pregnant mother] in the stomach.”
The prisoner’s command of his son came in response to the child telling Steven Wiggins about the mother’s pregnancy.
Wiggins faces possible execution for shooting Sergeant Daniel Baker dead on May 30, 2018, when the Dickson County Sheriff’s deputy attempted to apprehend the defendant on suspicion of car theft. Last week, Wiggins’ attorneys based the defense of their client entirely on questions about his mental competence and this week, in the trial’s sentencing phase, they have argued that his deficient mental state should mitigate his eligibility for the death penalty. The defenders are seeking life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead.
On Wednesday, Steven Wiggins’s lawyers called a number of the defendant’s friends and family members to testify to violent and sexual abuse they say Steven Wiggins suffered at the hands of his father and to the impetuous, uncontrolled behavior the defendant exhibited from a young age.
Julie Creasman, Steven Wiggins’ maternal aunt, said that having endured years of the physical aggression his father Scott Wiggins inflicted upon him, Steven Wiggins had very little self-control.
“From even being small, [he was] very hyper, very impulsive,” Creasman said.
Another defense witness, Steven Wiggins’ family friend Jennifer Bryant, said she would sometimes suggest that Wiggins’ mother Juanita leave Steven Wiggins’ father, given how abusive he was toward her and her children. “I said, ‘Why don’t you just leave him?’” Bryant said. “She said, ‘I can’t.’”
Juanita Wiggins would eventually leave Scott Wiggins when Steven Wiggins was a teenager.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Judge David D. Wolfe of Tennessee’s 23rd Judicial District reiterated his earlier guidance to witnesses that they may not testify to the jury about their opinion on the death penalty nor about the effect that Steven Wiggins’ possible execution would have on them personally.
To hand down a death sentence, all twelve members of the jury will need to concur. A sentencing decision may be reached as early as this week.
Steven Wiggins has been convicted of premeditated first-degree murder, felony murder, two counts of theft of property, two counts of criminal impersonation of law enforcement, tampering with evidence, arson of vehicle, and abuse of corpse.
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Bradley Vasoli is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
