4 days ago
Waffle House shooter Travis Reinking seeks retrial to present more evidence of insanity
More than three years after Travis Reinking was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of four people in an Antioch Waffle House in 2018, Reinking's attorneys appeared in a Nashville courtroom Aug. 4 in an attempt to revive his case.
Reinking's attorneys argue that he is entitled to a new trial. The attorneys say errors by the prosecutors, former defense attorneys and the judge at Reinking's first trial, which turned solely on the jury's determination of whether he was sane enough at the time of the shooting to be found guilty, led to jurors receiving an incomplete picture of Reinking's mental health issues and state during the attack. Reinking has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
A 208-page filing from the defense, led by Stephen Ross Johnson of Knoxville, makes meticulous note of the alleged flaws in the first trial. But the defense emphasizes one "glaring" problem: Reinking's attorneys did not obtain their own mental health experts or conduct their own psychological evaluations of him before his first trial. In a written statement filed in court, David Raybin, a defense attorney described by the state Supreme Court as an expert in criminal law, called that decision "inconceivable."
The decision lies with Judge Mark Fishburn, who presided over Reinking's trial in 2022, and sentenced him to four consecutive life sentences.
Taurean C. Sanderlin, 29; Joe R. Perez, 20; DeEbony Groves, 21; and Akilah DaSilva, 23, died after Reinking walked into the Waffle House after 3:20 a.m. April 22, 2018, and opened fire with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
State Rep. Shaundelle Brooks, DaSilva's mother, was at the hearing on Aug. 4.
"Back in court today, still fighting for justice for my son Akilah," Brooks wrote in a post to X that morning. "He was only 23, talented, kind, full of life.
"The man who took him from me wants another trial. But where's Akilah's second chance?"
The defense has the burden of proving that Reinking was insane. The Davidson County District Attorney's Office, in a filing from Aug. 1, argued a new trial should not be granted on the "benefit of hindsight."
"The fact that the jury found the defendant guilty was not due to anything other than the overwhelming evidence of his guilt, and nothing would change that result," the response reads.
Fishburn has cleared his docket for the rest of the week to hear the case. It is not clear if the hearing will last that entire time.
Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Waffle House shooter Travis Reinking is asking for a new trial
