NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The man convicted of nurse Caitlyn Kaufman's murder received a 25-year sentence Wednesday from a Nashville judge.
Kaufman died on Interstate 440 after being shot while driving to her nursing job.
"After considering all of the relevant evidence from the trial and sentencing hearing and applicable law, the court finds that the defendant was a leader in the commission of an offense," Judge Angelita Dalton wrote. "Hill was a leader in the commission of the shooting death of Ms. Kaufman."
Devaunte Hill will serve the maximum for the second-degree murder conviction 100%. That is the maximum sentence allowed under the law for that offense. Prosecutors sought first-degree murder convictions for both Hill and James Cowan who was driving the car.
That would have brought life sentences. But, at trial earlier this year, the jury found Hill guilty of the lesser charge of second degree. This after Hill admitted at trial to firing the shots that killed the Nashville nurse in a road rage incident in 2020.
The jury — to the surprise of many — then cleared Cowan of all charges finding him not guilty. However, Cowan remains locked up in federal custody on separate gun charges and if convicted he could face more than a decade in prison.
The 24-year-old Hill gets credit for the past two-plus years he was locked up awaiting trial.
He will be eligible for release when he is 47 years old.
