Chatsworth woman sentenced in family aggravated assault case
Rhonda Kazmierski / Murray County Jail
MURRAY COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) — A Chatsworth woman has been sentenced to prison for shooting her boyfriend, according to a press release from the Whitfield County district attorney’s office.
The Trial
A Murray County jury found Rhonda Wyleen Kazmierski, 56, guilty of family violence aggravated battery and family violence aggravated assault.
They sentenced her to 20 years, but only serving the first 391 days in confinement. She will serve the remainder of her sentence on probation.
The trial began on Monday and lasted four days. The jury then returned a guilty verdict on all counts.
What Happened
The incident happened in December of 2022.
Whitfield County officials say Kazmierski had recently told her friends she was angry with her boyfriend. She reportedly told them, “If she could not have him, no one could.” They say her friends warned Kazmierski’s boyfriend, but he returned to her house anyway.
On December 13, 2022, Kazmierski and her boyfriend were arguing, and he was packing to leave. She then shot him from the behind, “striking him in the backside,” according to the DA.
They say he turned around and tried to take the gun from her, and she shot him a second time, in the leg. The DA said the victim took the gun away and made it to a nearby couch. He was afraid he was going to die because he was on blood thinners, the press release explains.
The victim begged Kazmierski to call 911, and she did when he returned the gun to her, the DA explained.
First responders airlifted the boyfriend to the hospital. The DA said he lost a portion of his body, and he received several stitches on his leg.
Kazmierski told investigators that she shot her boyfriend in self-defense. “She told detectives she had had enough on the day of the shooting. She described the victim walking past her and swiping his hand over her pacemaker, which she believed was a threat to her life,” the DA stated.
She then hired a licensed clinical social worker to conduct an evaluation of her. The social worker said Kazmierski suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and battered person syndrome.
Kazmierski testified that she first shot the victim from the side. She said the victim took her to the ground and forcefully pushed on her pacemaker while he held her down. The DA said Kazmierski claims that’s when she fired the second round.
However, the GBI said the second round could not have come from someone on the ground.
After the trial, authorities released Kazmierski to begin serving her probation, according to the DA.
