Two Nashville Men Receive Lengthy Prison Sentences For Violent Crime And Drug Offenses

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – May 15, 2018 – Two Nashville, Tennessee men have been sentenced in U.S. District Court to more than 20 years in prison for committing crimes involving drugs and violence, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran of the Middle District of Tennessee.

            Michael D. Bright, aka Groove, 27, was sentenced on May 11, 2018, to 23 years in prison, for his involvement in two armed robberies of Nashville businesses.  Yesterday, Emmanuel Thirkill, aka Hot Boy, 36, was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison on firearms and drug offenses.

            According to court documents, Michael Bright was one of four participants in the armed robbery of the Express Market, located at 2408 Antioch Pike in Nashville, on June 3, 2015.  During that robbery, Bright acted as the driver while the other participants, Dominique Cordell Wallace, aka DeuceFace, Robert Dewayne Brooks, aka YG, and Demontay Thomas entered the store with guns.  Thomas crawled under the counter while Brooks was climbing over the counter.  Brooks became startled by Thomas and began firing his pistol, striking Thomas and killing him.  Wallace then shot a clerk in the head before fleeing the store with Brooks and Bright.

            On June 21, 2015, Bright again participated in an armed robbery of the Jack in the Box, located at 622 McGavock Pike in Nashville.  During this robbery, Bright and Corin Porter forced several female employees at gunpoint, into the office area and took money from the safe, while threatening them with the firearms.  Michael Wilson acted as the driver for this robbery.

            Bright pleaded guilty on December 12, 2017.  All other defendants have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

            In an unrelated case, Emmanuel Thirkill, aka Hot Boy, 36, was sentenced yesterday to 21 years and 10 months in prison on firearms and drug offenses. 

            Court documents reflect that beginning in May 2016, after being released from prison, Thirkill began selling cocaine in the Tony Sudekem Public Housing Development on a daily basis.  Thirkill became the subject of a criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives as part of a concerted effort to reduce crime in the city’s public housing areas.

            The investigation determined that Thirkill was receiving a supply of cocaine on a weekly basis, which he stored in his Antioch home located near Thomas Edison Elementary School.  On December 6, 2016, Metro Nashville police officers attempted to stop Thirkill as he was leaving his home, but Thirkill fled and temporarily escaped capture.  A search warrant was subsequently obtained and executed at Thirkill’s home and officers found five ounces of cocaine, $15,000 cash and a loaded Glock 9mm pistol, which was determined to have been stolen during a home burglary in Sumner County, Tennessee in 2013.  Metro Police located and arrested Thirkill the following day at a hotel in West Nashville. 

            Thirkill pleaded guilty to these offenses on October 23, 2017.

            Thirkill has four prior felony convictions in state court, since 2001, for trafficking cocaine; two prior felony convictions for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm; and a conviction for attempted reckless aggravated assault.

            These investigations were conducted by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s Gang Division and the ATF.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sunny A.M. Koshy and Philip H. Wehby prosecuted the cases.