Joshua Hallmon mug shot

Joshua Hallmon

 Courtesy of the Franklin Police Department

A Murfreesboro man has been convicted of 12 federal charges for his role in a 2020 crime spree in Murfreesboro and Franklin.

27-year-old Joshua Hallmon was convicted of Hobbs Act robbery, kidnapping, using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm by a jury on Tuesday. Hallmon faces a minimum of 34 years in federal prison, with the potential of a life sentence, which will be determined later this year.

Hallmon's co-defendants, Charles Melvin Walker and Walter Lee Williams, also of Murfreesboro, both plead guilty to their roles in the crime spree following the trio's May 2021 indictment.

As previously reported, the crime spree began with a series of armed robberies of gas stations and convenience stores on July 6 and July 23, 2020, before the three men carjacked an unidentified person on July 26, forcing them to withdraw money from an ATM before stealing the victim’s Honda Accord, all of which occurred in Murfreesboro.

That same day, the three men made their way to Williamson County where they attempted to carjack someone in Franklin. Franklin Police responded to that carjacking attempt on the night of Sunday, July 26, 2020, at the Dwell at McEwen apartments on Reliance Drive.

At the time, FPD released limited information about the incident that saw two men approach the male victim in the complex’s parking lot at approximately 11:45 p.m. where they ordered the man out of his vehicle.

Police said that one of the suspects was armed with a gun and fired one shot into the vehicle as the victim began backing away. The unidentified victim was not injured in the shooting and the suspects fled the area in a white four-door car.

Just hours after the Franklin incident, one of those suspects, later identified by law enforcement as Hallmon, carjacked an unidentified 18-year-old man in Murfreesboro before shooting him in the face and dumping the wounded man on the side of Interstate 24 near mile-marker 75.

Law enforcement officials were not aware of that shooting incident until around 1 a.m. on Monday, July 27, when the wounded man was found by Tennessee Highway Patrol State Troopers.

The victim was able to tell troopers what happened, and THP and MPD began their investigation and search for the victim's stolen vehicle, a white 2014 Ford F-150, which was later stopped for speeding by the Smyrna Police Department.

Hallmon then fled that traffic stop in the truck before crashing it in Davidson County following a multi-agency pursuit.

According to prosecutors, Hallmon, a convicted felon, was arrested after he was found hiding in a convenience store bathroom where police said that he was in possession of a pistol magazine and loose ammunition for a .380 caliber pistol that was recovered in the stolen truck.

The next day the Murfreesboro Police Department recovered the stolen Honda Accord after a vehicle pursuit where the driver, later identified as Walker, was arrested after fleeing into a wooded area.

Prosecutors said that the arrest of Walker then led to the identification and arrest of the last suspect, Williams.

“As a result of today’s convictions, this violent criminal will be spending over three decades in federal prison,” United States Attorney Henry C. Leventis said in a DOJ news release. “I commend the outstanding work done in this case by our prosecutors and our state and federal law enforcement partners to protect our community from violent crime.”