Trial begins Monday in Caitlyn Kaufman homicide trial in Tennessee
The trial for two men charged in the December 2020 shooting death of Butler County native Caitlyn Kaufman begins Monday in Nashville, Tenn.
James Cowan, 29, and Devaunte Hill, 23, both of Tennessee, are facing first-degree murder charges in the Dec. 3 death of Kaufman, a Chicora native who was 26 years old.
Jury selection is expected to take half the day Monday. The trial will begin after the jury is selected and take at least the rest of the week in Nashville-Davidson County Court.
Cowan is being represented by attorney Ron Munkeboe and Hill’s attorney is Jason Chaffin.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Roger Moore and assistant district attorneys Jan Norman and Kristen Taylor. Members of the Metro Nashville Police Department are expected to present testimony about their investigation into Kaufman’s death.
Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton is presiding over the trial, which is being held in courtroom 6B in the A.A. Birch Building in downtown Nashville.
In a possible road rage incident, Kaufman was shot while she was driving to St. Thomas West Hospital, where she worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit.
In a hearing in January, a witness and investigators said Kaufman may have cut off the defendants' car in traffic as they traveled along Interstate 440 in Nashville. Investigators said her car was struck by at least six bullets and her rear driver's side window was shot out. She died at the scene.
Ballistic tests on a gun recovered from a witness's vehicle confirmed that it matched shell casings found on Interstate 440 where Kaufman was shot.
Cellphone data was used to track Kaufman's route and speed on the evening of Dec. 3.
That data showed she kept a steady speed of 70 mph until 6:08, when she began to slow. Detectives believe that coincides with the start of the shooting, according to testimony from the January hearing.
Investigators testified that data pulled from a phone believed to be Hill's showed repeated online searches using terms like “Nashville shooting today.”
Police searched for almost two hours before they discovered Kaufman's body, according to testimony.
