On September 11, 2025, the Office of the District Attorney General for Gibson County, Tennessee, announced that after a three-day trial, a jury had delivered a guilty verdict against Frederick Cottrell Yates for the 2021 double homicide of Diamond Love and Marcus Smith Jr. The Office of the District Attorney General press release detailed that Yates, aged 24, faced 12 counts, including two counts each of first-degree murder, felony murder, employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and facilitation of first-degree murder, alongside charges of especially aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence.
DA Frederick H. Agee expressed gratitude to the jury for their service, emphasizing the particularly senseless nature of this domestic violent act. "This was an especially senseless domestic violent act that took the lives of Diamond Love (20) and Marcus Smith Jr. (21) who had their whole lives ahead of them," Agee said, reaffirming the office's commitment to removing violent offenders from local communities, as stated by the Office of the District Attorney General's Facebook post. Yates is set to receive his sentencing for the murder counts, guaranteeing life in the Tennessee Department of Correction, with Honorable Clayburn Peeples to sentence the other counts on January 12, 2026. There is also the potential for Yates to face consecutive life sentences plus an additional 43 years.
The case was prosecuted by a team comprising District Attorney General Frederick H. Agee, Assistant District Attorneys Nina Seiler and Miller Edgin, and supported by an investigative and administrative team. The release specifies the involvement of numerous law enforcement personnel and forensic experts, indicating a collaborative effort to ensure justice for the victims. Among those acknowledged were DA Investigator Jimmy Wilson, DA Victim Witness Coordinator Carol Oliver, and several TBI Special Agents and Lab Agents, as reported by the Office of the District Attorney General.
