On January 27, 2017, Beth Chandra Lawson, a 40-year-old female veteran of the Tennessee Army National Guard, was shot and killed in her Church Hill, Tennessee, home. The incident occurred at the Church Hill Village Apartments on Holliston Mills Road, where she lived with her husband and their young child. Church Hill police were called to the residence that morning for a shooting complaint and found Lawson deceased at the scene.
Her husband, Bryan 'Steven' Lawson, who was 33 at the time,
was identified as the suspect. During the investigation, detectives discovered an active home video surveillance system that had recorded the events. The footage reportedly showed the couple in an argument before Bryan Lawson fired a handgun, striking his wife. Tragically, their small child was standing beside Beth Lawson when she was shot.
Following the discovery of the video evidence, Bryan Lawson was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and felony reckless endangerment. He was held at the Hawkins County Jail on a $250,000 bond. From the beginning, Lawson claimed he acted in self-defense, alleging years of abuse by his wife.
The case against Bryan Lawson did not go to a full trial. In February 2019, he accepted a plea agreement in Hawkins County Criminal Court. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment. As a result of the plea deal, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The case and the conflicting claims of self-defense versus murder were later featured on the A&E television series 'Accused: Guilty Or Innocent?'.
