A man with a history of violence and criminal behavior was sentenced to ten years after evading arrest and being caught with firearms, according to Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen's office. Buddy Livesay, aged 36, faced charges of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon by a Violent Felon, Evading Arrest, and Criminal Impersonation; he was ordered to serve his time without parole by Judge Hector Sanchez as reported by the DA's office.
The chain of events started when Livesay was stopped on June 21, 2024, by Officer Brett Cox with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and during this stop, Livesay provided false identification information and then made a run for it evading on his motorcycle leading to a brief chase that ended with a crash near Vestal Baptist Church, after which he fled on foot into the woods, his vest was later found discarded—two handguns inside it. County prosecutors Assistant District Attorneys Molly Martin and Sean Bright outlined to the jury in February's one-day trial how the felon had active warrants from Indiana, which was, according to him, the reason for his attempt to flee law enforcement that day.
"Luckily, no one was injured during this incident, a wanted suspect was apprehended, and two guns were taken off the streets," DA Charme Allen said in a statement shared by the DA's office. Livesay's criminal history included aggravated kidnapping, but at the time of the Tennessee incident, he was also wanted in Indiana for methamphetamine trafficking charges.
The team involved in the successful prosecution, beyond the lead attorneys, included Assistant Victim Witness Coordinators Juanita Loope and Marilyn Billingsley as well as Legal Secretaries Michelle Carter and Cathleen Wilson, these individuals played key roles in ensuring that Livesay's case was comprehensively managed and resulted in the ten-year sentence he now faces without the possibility of parole.
