A Montgomery County jury convicted Matthew Konen of murder in David Rodgers's death and criminally negligent homicide in Rachel Konen's.

The split is the verdict. Clarksville Now reported the jury convicted Konen of first-degree murder, as charged, in Rodgers's death, and of criminally negligent homicide in Rachel Konen's. His lawyer, Kyle Mothershead, asked the jury to find the state had not disproved self-defense. These are the counts that came back. Jan. 13 is when a judge sets the sentence.

Clarksville Now reported that a Montgomery County jury returned the verdict Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, at the Montgomery County Courts Center, after nine days of testimony and nearly five hours of deliberations. Matthew David Konen, 36, a Nashville-area paramedic, was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Rachel Konen, 30, and guilty as charged of first-degree murder in the death of her father, David Rodgers, 62. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 13. The paper reported the two were found dead in the Konens' Westwood Drive home on the evening of Jan. 20, 2021. Konen called 911 at about 6:42 p.m. First responders found that Rachel had been shot through the heart. Rodgers had been beaten to death. Those are the facts as Clarksville Now reported them from the trial and from earlier coverage. Thursday's verdict decides the counts. It does not impose the prison term.

Clarksville Now reported that testimony ended Wednesday and that prosecutors and the defense then gave closing arguments. Assistant District Attorney Chris West told jurors the only person in the home with a motive to kill that night was Konen. "He was a man who had every reason," West said. "He was a man with a quick temper and he is the person that snapped that night." The paper reported West told jurors Rachel was shot once in the center of her back and through her heart, and that he pointed to a $700,000 life insurance policy on her life with Konen as the beneficiary. District Attorney General Robert Nash argued that the beating of Rodgers showed intent, and that Konen had described Rodgers to police as "extremely passive." West also pointed jurors to a Jan. 18, 2021 text Konen sent Morgan Konen, then his girlfriend and now his wife: "You know my character flaws are a … quick temper and big time impatience." Those are arguments to the jury. The verdict is what the jury did with them.

Defense attorney Kyle Mothershead told jurors the state had not proved Konen was not acting in self-defense, and that "Mr. Konen does not have to prove that he was acting in self-defense," Clarksville Now reported. Mothershead's account, as the paper described the closing, was that Rodgers shot Rachel, turned the gun on Konen, the gun clicked, Konen tackled him, took the gun, and beat him to incapacitate him, then called 911. Mothershead said that on the call Konen left Rachel, saw Rodgers sitting up on his knees, and kicked him until he was down because four small children were still in the house. He told jurors gunshot residue does not prove who fired, and that Konen's fingerprints were not found on the trigger or grip of the gun. He said Konen's statements to police that night were "totally consistent" with the scene. The children are not named here.

The jury's answer, Clarksville Now reported, was first-degree murder for Rodgers and criminally negligent homicide for Rachel. A full acquittal on self-defense was not the result. The two counts are not the same crime, and criminally negligent homicide is not first-degree murder. What the jury accepted, count by count, is what Thursday's verdict records. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and on Thursday the jury found the state had met that burden on the counts of conviction.