28 year old Tina Rose Bain appeared in DeKalb County Criminal Court Monday and entered a “No Contest” plea to a charge of attempted murder in a January shooting in which a White County man was killed and a DeKalb County woman was seriously wounded.
Judge Leon Burns, Jr. sentenced Bain to 22 years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections as a range one offender, which means she may be eligible for parole after serving thirty percent of the sentence.
Bain, who was scheduled to stand trial this week, instead entered the “No Contest” plea under a negotiated settlement with state prosecutors. All other charges against her were dropped including charges of first degree murder, felony murder, theft, and two traffic offenses, driving on a suspended license and violation of the financial responsibility law.
A co-defendant in the case, 33 year old Michael E. Johnson of Sparta received a life prison sentence in August after he pleaded guilty to first degree murder in the case.
Johnson and Bain were charged in the shooting death of 21 year old David Anthony Welch of Sparta and the wounding of 23 year old Heather Trapp of Smithville. Both Welch and Trapp were shot at Trapp’s home during the pre-dawn hours of January 6th on Webb Lane.
TBI Special Agent Bob Krofssik testified Monday that the proof in the case would show that Johnson fired the shots that killed Welch and that Trapp was shot by Bain.
After the shooting, Johnson and Bain left the scene in their car but were arrested later that day in White County. They were brought to the DeKalb County Jail and after several hours of questioning, were charged in the shooting.
Johnna West, a friend of Trapp, who had spent the night at Trapp’s home and was a witness to events before, during, and after the shooting testified in the case during a preliminary hearing earlier this year in DeKalb County General Sessions Court.
West says she was awakened by an argument between Trapp and Bain. “I heard yelling from Heather who was apparently in the laundry room. I don’t know if they were in the laundry room or on the back porch but I could hear Tina screaming very loud at Heather and Heather yelling and then I heard something that sounded like firecrackers. I didn’t think anything about it being gunshots at that time. Within a few seconds, I heard the same thing coming from the bedroom. It sounded like fireworks or firecrackers popping. It was like two pops. I raised up and looked and saw Johnson walking out from the bedroom and out through the laundry room. That’s when I saw Heather lying face down in the laundry room in a puddle of blood. I knew then that she had been shot”.
West continued, ” I was in shock. I was scared. I didn’t know if I was going to be next. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew I had to get to the phone. I ran back and checked on (Trapp’s daughter) first and then I grabbed the phone and called 911. I went and looked in the bedroom and saw David (Welch) laying on the bed but he wasn’t making any noise or sounds. I went and sat by Heather. I asked her who shot her and she said ?Tina’. I talked to her until the police and ambulance arrived.”
TBI Agent Krofssik testified that three different statements were taken from Bain in the days after the shooting and that Bain gave a different version of the story each time. In the first statement, Krofissk said Bain ” denied being over there and being involved in the shooting in any way”. In the second statement, “she admitted being there but blamed the shooting on a third party, another woman”. In the third statement, Kroffssik said Bain blamed the shooting on Johnson.
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