Caitlyn Kaufman, a 26-year-old Nashville nurse, was fatally shot as she drove down Interstate 440 westbound between Hillsboro Pike and West End Avenue on Dec. 3, 2020, Metro Nashville police said. She is a Butler High School and BC3 graduate. Submitted photo

The judge who presided over the trial of two men charged in the December 2020 murder of Chicora native Caitlyn Kaufman in Nashville, Tenn., delayed sentencing for the one man who was found guilty at a hearing Friday.

At the conclusion of a sentencing hearing, Davidson County Judge Angelita Dalton said she would issue a ruling for DeVaunte Hill, 23, at an unspecified date in a couple weeks.

Hill and James Cowan, 29, both of Tennessee, were charged in the Dec. 3 road rage shooting death of Kaufman, who was 26 years old, while she was driving to St. Thomas West Hospital in Nashville where she worked as an intensive care nurse.

A jury found Hill, who was initially charged with first-degree murder, guilty of the lesser charge of second degree murder and acquitted Cowan following a four-day trial and two days of deliberation in January. Hill testified and admitted to shooting Kaufman while Cowan was driving.

During Friday’s hearing, Kaufman’s mother Diane Kaufman testified that the family remains traumatized by her death.

“Today marks the 820th day I haven’t talked to my daughter,” Kaufman said. She said she used to talk to Caitlyn at least twice and sometimes eight or more times a day.