Michael Mosley: Life sentences in fatal 2019 stabbing outside midtown Nashville bar
Michael Mosley was given two consecutive life sentences in the 2019 stabbing deaths of two Franklin men at a Midtown Nashville bar.
Mosley was convicted by a Nashville jury of first-degree murder in the stabbings in March. An order filed Wednesday by Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton determined his ultimate sentence.
Mosley's two consecutive life sentences will be followed by a further 40-year sentence based on guidelines in state law, Dalton said.
"The Court finds that the Defendant had no hesitation about committing a crime when
the risk to human life was high," Dalton wrote.
Dalton also noted a criminal record including jail assaults — one of which court documents say led to a riot at the Cheatham County jail — as well as aggravated assault and robbery. She said they were important elements in deciding the severity of the sentence.
Previous coverage: Michael Mosley guilty of first-degree murder in 2019 stabbing outside midtown Nashville bar
Read this: Trial begins in 2019 double fatal stabbing outside Dogwood Bar in Midtown
Mosley was also convicted of attempted first-degree murder after the stabbing left another man blind in one eye and convicted of assault against another. The latter two charges carry 40 years and just under a year and are to be served together after the two life sentences, Dalton's ruling said.
2019 fight escalated into stabbing
Mosley was named the suspect in the fight and stabbing that killed two Williamson County college students, Clayton Beathard and Paul Trapeni III, on Dec. 21, 2019, at The Dogwood, a bar on Division Street.
Beathard was stabbed in the chest, hitting his heart. Trapeni was also stabbed in the heart and also in the back.
Another man, A.J. Bethurum, then a 21-year-old University of Tennessee student from Franklin, survived the stabbing with injuries to his eye and arm. He fully lost vision in his left eye after the knife went up and under the organ and nearly pierced his brain, according to a testimony he gave earlier this year.
All three victims were old friends and had attended Battle Ground Academy in Franklin together.
Deputy District Attorney Amy Hunter and Assistant District Attorney Jan Norman say Mosley escalated a comment from one of the trio's friends to a fistfight and then pulled a knife.
The defense, led by Nashville attorney Ken Quillen, argued Mosley was acting in self-defense from the tall, athletic former football players in the trio's friend group.
Mosley Sentencing Order by USA TODAY Network on Scribd
Reach reporter Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean.com or 615-259-8344 and on Twitter @MariahTimms.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Michael Mosley sentenced in fatal 2019 stabbing at midtown Nashville bar
