Shelby, Tennessee

From the Shelby Star of September 22, 2005

Casar man freed in teen’s shooting death

Rick Van Mellon handed his wife Phyllis his wallet, watch and wedding ring before he entered the courtroom Wednesday. Mrs. Mellon slid the ring on her middle finger.

Mellon faced three charges: first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon and shooting into an occupied vehicle.

With each “not guilty” the jury foreman read, Renee Beck’s eyes widened. She shook her head and stared at the jury. The man who shot and killed her 16-year-old son Jonathan was not going to jail.
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It took the jury about four hours to decide Mellon was not guilty of murder for shooting Jonathan Beck nearly two years ago and was not guilty of assault when he shot Paul Dean Allen, who was 15 at the time, in the head. Allen survived and sat in the courtroom Wednesday.

The Trial

On Nov. 28, 2003, Beck was driving his cousin’s car on Mecca Drive, a long private gravel road in Casar that belongs to Mellon.

It was late at night when Beck, who had been drinking, spun the tires and raced down the drive. Mellon said when he and his 17-year-old son Shawn went out to investigate, the car charged toward his son, who jumped out of the way, and then toward Mellon who shot his 9-mm pistol at the car three times. One of the bullets went through Beck’s head and then into Allen’s head.

Mellon did not know Beck but knew Allen, who was riding in the front seat, and knew his then-11-year-old brother, Matthew, who was riding in the back seat.

During the trial, the defense attacked the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office investigation, saying it was incomplete and biased. They claimed Mellon was acting in self defense.

District Attorney Bill Young argued Beck was not driving as fast as Mellon estimated and that, because the shots struck the side of the car rather than the front, Beck was not driving toward Mellon when Mellon fired the shots.

Jurors declined to comment after the trial.