In the early morning hours of January 30, 1998, the life of 23-year-old Michael Tragen Hite was cut short in his Athens, Tennessee home. Hite was asleep in his bed when he sustained a single gunshot wound to his head. The shooting occurred at the trailer residence he shared with Jeremy Stakley in McMinn County.
The events of that tragic morning involved two assailants, Chris Haire and John Newberry, and resulted in another man, Mark Allen, being shot and wounded.
It was undisputed that Haire was the one who shot Hite, using a. 38 caliber revolver. An autopsy later concluded that Hite was likely in a sleeping position when he was shot from a distance of a few inches to a foot away. The medical examiner determined the manner of death to be homicide.
Following the incident, Chris Haire was arrested and subsequently charged in connection with Michael Hite's death. Both Haire and Newberry tested positive for gunshot residue on their hands. Haire was later convicted of second-degree murder for the death of Michael Hite and received a 25-year sentence in the Department of Correction. He was also convicted of facilitation of attempted second-degree murder related to the nonfatal shooting of Mark Allen.
