COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. (WMC) - A West Tennessee mother who used to live in Knoxville is fighting to keep her ex-husband in prison who will attend a parole hearing on Thursday.
In 2015, Wortman accepted a plea deal of 30 years for the crimes. As part of the deal, he was to serve at least 30 percent of the time. His sentence at the Morgan County Correctional Complex began June 5, 2015.
Wortman was supposed to serve at least nine years for the attempted murders of his ex-wife, Staci Jones. He poisoned her toothpaste and then tried twice to hire a hitman.
“I think we’ve healed a lot. We are moving forward, my family and I, but there it still lingers that he could be out one day and he could be out fighting for my kids and making life fearful for us,” said Staci Jones.
From across the state, Jones and her family monitored Wortman through the Tennessee Department of Corrections felony offender database.
“You can watch the sentence,” said Jones. “And slowly, and I mean every month, the time has slowly been reduced.”
Then, a letter came in April. A notice from the Tennessee Department of Correction about an upcoming investigation into Wortman’s parole eligibility.
“We know just from the past four years and the courts that we’ve dealt with that there’s not been a change in his heart,” she said.
A parole hearing date was rescheduled for September 19 at 9:30 a.m. in Morgan County, more than four years after his sentence started.
“I am asked that a lot. ‘What are you going to do?’ I don’t know. I am told, ‘you need to move away. You need to change your name,’ but that’s not life. That’s not a life I want to live,” she said.
So now, she fights.
Since July, a Change.org petition to deny the parole hearing has gained nearly 30,000 signatures.
“We will be there in full force,” said Jones.
Come September, Jones said she will be there to testify against her ex-husband to ensure he stays in prison and to ensure her family is safe.