In the fall of 2020, a young man's life was tragically cut short in Clarksville, Tennessee, over a dispute that began with a dog urinating on a piece of furniture. Austin Lee Moss, a 24-year-old male, had recently moved to the area from Texas with his fiancée, Jessica Harris, and her daughter. They were temporarily staying with Harris's sister, Kristen Haynes, and her husband, Army Sgt. Scott Alan Haynes Jr.
This living arrangement, intended to be a fresh start, would unfortunately culminate in a fatal confrontation just five days after Moss and his family arrived.
On the night of November 20, 2020, an argument erupted between Moss and Haynes after a dog peed on their couch. The disagreement escalated, leading Haynes to demand that Moss and his family move out of the residence. According to testimony, Haynes then announced he was retrieving his gun. Moments later, as he was coming back up the stairs, he fired a shot that struck and killed Austin Moss. The bullet narrowly missed Jessica Harris, who was standing near her fiancé at the time of the shooting.
The following day, Clarksville Police arrested 25-year-old Scott Alan Haynes Jr. in connection with the fatal shooting. Initially charged with homicide, the Montgomery County Grand Jury later indicted him on charges of premeditated first-degree murder and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon in July 2021. During the investigation and subsequent legal proceedings, Haynes claimed that he had been drinking alcohol before the incident and that he shot Moss in self-defense. An autopsy revealed that Moss had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.213 percent.
In May 2023, Scott Alan Haynes Jr. stood trial for the killing of his soon-to-be brother-in-law. The jury ultimately convicted him of second-degree murder and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. For these crimes, he received a sentence of eighteen years for the murder conviction and a consecutive two-year sentence for the reckless endangerment charge. An appeal was later filed, claiming the evidence was insufficient to support the second-degree murder conviction and that the eighteen-year sentence was excessive; however, the trial court's judgments were affirmed. Austin Moss was survived by his parents and a young son.
