“Today, convicted death penalty murderer [sic] Sean Shannon Finnegan entered a guilty plea to Rape of a Child regarding two children that were raped in Oak Ridge in 2019. He also entered a guilty plea to 13 charges of Especially Aggravated Sexual Exploitation of a Minor. For these convictions, Senior Judge Don Ash, appearing specially, sentenced Finnegan to an additional fifty (50) years at 100 percent in prison along with his mandatory listing and compliance with the requirements of the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry and Community Supervision for Life. His sentence will run consecutively to the death penalty sentence. The trial against Finnegan was scheduled to begin this morning before he entered his plea,” says Anderson County, Tennessee District Attorney Dave Clark’s office in a press release that goes on to describe how Finnegan was already on death row for the “gruesome murder of Jennifer Paxton, whose body he stored in a freezer in his Oak Ridge apartment. Finnegan was convicted of eleven (11) counts following a jury trial in that case.”

Ummm… Well a smart prosecutor’s always going to think ahead and maybe better safe than sorry that Finnegan could maybe somehow get his conviction in the murder case overturned, so no real question there. It’s the sex offender and community supervision thing that, even if just a formality that applies no matter what, maybe they could’ve left out of the press release. There are worse punishments in the justice system. One in particular will in all likelihood be visited upon him in the next decade or so and being a sex offender isn’t exactly a game changer for this sick asshole.

One real question though: What the hell did Clark do to get Finnegan to change his plea on the morning of the first day of his trial? Was it a Big Mac? Did they offer him a Big Mac to save the taxpayers the expense of another trial? Like did Clark just put a Big Mac on the table and say nothing? How long did Finnegan hold out for? What size of fries was involved in this negotiation?