Stephen Donta Oden

On a Saturday afternoon, just before 4:00 p.m. on November 3, 2007, a burst of violence at a Nashville carwash cut short the life of 20-year-old Stephen Donta Oden. The young man was at the NCW carwash located at 4007 Charlotte Avenue, focused on the everyday task of vacuuming out his 1998 Chevy Tahoe. He was accompanied by a friend, Ronnie Lee Carver, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle.

The normalcy of the afternoon was shattered when an unidentified Black male suspect ...