Man that killed and dismembered parents sentenced to an additional four years

Last month, 32-year-old Joel Michael Guy was found guilty on all seven charges he faced related to the 2016 murder and dismemberment of his parents.  The trial took just four days and the jury deliberated for just three hours before returning a unanimous verdict of guilty on all charges.

Yesterday, November 19, Guy was back in court once more, this time to be sentenced for the 6th and 7th charges which were abuse of a corpse.

The defense attorney requested that the court find in favor of the lowest possible sentence for the charges and that they allow the sentences to run concurrently stating that Guy would be in his 70s when released and therefore be of little risk to the community.

"This was the most extreme form of abuse of a corpse I've seen in 25 years,"  Knox County Judge Steven Sword said during the sentencing.

When addressing the defense attorney's requests, Sword made it clear that, "I don't see any potential rehabilitation for Mr Guy. I was watching him during the trial.  He showed absolutely no remorse or despair at seeing what he had done.  Quite frankly," he said, turning his attention to Guy, "you looked kind'a proud of what you had accomplished."

"I think we could have 500 years to try and rehabilitate Mr. Guy and be unsuccessful."

Sword said that the crime was one of "just pure evil and overkill" when explaining his reasoning for finding in favor of showing that the murders were aggravated.

Acknowledging that there would surely be physical deterioration in Guy over the next 51 years were the sentences to run concurrently, Sword stated, "It's his mind that I am most worried about. He certainly has a sick and depraved mind. He is certainly not mentally ill.  He knew exactly what he was doing."

This was just a "pure act of evil, done in a really unintelligent way," Sword said as something of a closing statement after saying that really, the case speaks for itself.  Sword even acknowledged that likely, what would anger Guy most, would be his referral to him as being unintelligent.

Guy was sentenced to a total of 130 years in prison- two life sentences to be served consecutively, with an additional four years stacked on top.

The maximum sentence that the court could hand down for the abuse of a corpse charges was 2 years per charge.

Guy is due back in court on February 5, 2021 for a status hearing.  Guy and his attorney indicate that they will possibly be seeking a new trial.