Judge sentences man who killed wife with car to 35 years

By Jamie Satterfield

Originally published 02:01 p.m., July 22, 2009
Updated 02:01 p.m., July 22, 2009

KNOXVILLE - A Knox County judge today slapped a husband with a long history of domestic violence with a 35-year prison term for running over his wife with a car, killing her.

Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner ruled the minimum 25-year sentence Carlos Radale Cornwell, 37, faced for the March 2008 death of his 42-year-old wife, Leoned Boulanger Cornwell, was too low to account for his criminal history.

"He's got this history of violent contact," Baumgartner said at a hearing today. "I believe, Mr. Cornwell, this didn't happen out of the blue. I think this event was just another event that was the result of your anger and your propensity for violence."

Carlos Cornwell was convicted of second-degree murder after a May trial in the death, in which Leoned Cornwell was run over and her body dragged under the car in the parking lot of the Magolia Avenue branch of the ORNL Federal Credit Union.

Cornwell has a string of convictions in North Carolina for crimes ranging from selling cocaine to beating women. He also has a domestic assault conviction in Knox County for beating up Leoned Cornwell in 2006.

Prosecutor Takisha Fitzgerald contends that Leoned Cornwell was a battered wife who was working on a plan to escape. Her husband, Fitzgerald argued, suspected as much. On the day of her death, Carlos Cornwell demanded his wife take from her newly created savings account enough money to pay the payment on his Infiniti sedan, testimony showed. Once at the bank, however, Leoned Cornwell instead attempted to leave, according to testimony.

Public Defender Mark Stephens insisted Carlos Cornwell accidentally backed over his wife when he went in search of her and then ran back over her to dislodge her body from the car.

More details as they develop online and in Thursday's News Sentinel.