CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Andre Grier now knows his sentence after being convicted of first degree murder in the 2016 killing of Bianca Horton.
The jury from Anderson County had one big decision to make on Wednesday.
They had to decide whether or not Andre Grier, the man they had just previously convicted 24 hours previously of first degree murder in the 2016 killing of Bianca Horton here in Chattanooga, to death.
They have elected instead to give him life in prison without parole.
The state had argued that Grier had met several aggravating factors due to the brutality and intent of Biana Horton’s murder.
Grier was convicted of conspiring with Courtney High and Charles Shelton of the Athens Park Bloods gang to murder her.
Prosecutors argued that Grier wanted her dead to prevent from testifying against fellow gang member Cortez Sims, who had paralyzed Horton’s baby daughter Zoey and killed her friend Talitha Bowman in 2015.
Sims was convicted in that incident.
Horton, who was only 26 years old at the time of her murder in 2016, left behind four children including Zoey, which was one of the factors prosecutors used to attempt to get the jury to sentence Grier to death.
Prosecutor Amy Werich argued, “How many opportunities did he have to stop this? To end it? To turn back? To give Bianca Horton’s children a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving with her this year.”
They argued that her murder, which according to testimony from Hamilton County Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Cogswell was especially brutal, and attempted to convey what they thought the mindset of Grier was.
Werich theorized that Grier’s mindset was, “We did a whole lot more than we needed to send a message… For the whole world to see, so that any other little (expletive) that came up behind her, with the nerve, of wanting to stop us? Keep us from running these streets?”
However, the defense argued that Grier suffered abuse as a child, and that there were too many questions about the evidence in this case to sentence Grier to his death.
Defense Attorney Clinton Frazier said, “What if you’re wrong? (pauses) Are you going to kill him? However this goes, my client is not coming out of prison… We’re asking you to choose life.”
Grier will be sentenced on the other charges in this case, including kidnapping, at a later date.
