ANDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. (Court TV) — A Tennessee man pleaded guilty in the shooting death of his mother and was sentenced to thirty years in prison.
Shawn Willis appears in court at his plea hearing Aug. 11, 2025. (Court TV)
Shawn T. Willis was 16 years old when he shot and killed Sandy Willis as she was sleeping on April 20, 2020, according to prosecutors. Shawn, now 21, was charged as an adult with first-degree murder. In a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder the day before his trial was scheduled to begin with jury selection.
Prosecutors said that Shawn consented to be interviewed with the approval and consent of his father on May 5, 2020. During the interview, he confessed to shooting his mother with her own pistol. Shawn told investigators he took the firearm as she was sleeping, brought it downstairs to load it, then returned to her bedroom and shot her “at close range, on the left side of her head.”…