Woman Who Sued Tennessee Sheriff for Forcibly Baptizing Her is Found Dead

Last week, a civil rights lawsuit against a former Tennessee sheriff’s deputy was approved by a U.S. District Court judge. The lawsuit accuses the deputy of baptizing a woman against her will during a 2019 traffic stop. Now the woman who brought the lawsuit has been found dead, News9 reports.

Hamilton County deputies found the body of 42-year-old Shandele Marie Riley at a home on Log Cabin Lane. The cause of death is still unknown and an autopsy is yet to be conducted.

Former deputy Daniel Wilkey, was indicted in 2019 on 44 charges including rape, assault, and official oppression after he pulled over Riley and during the course of the traffic stop found her to be in possession of marijuana and placed her under arrest. After he placed her in handcuffs, Riley says Wilkey inappropriately touched her crotch.

Deputies Daniel Wilkey (left) & Jacob Goforth (right). Images: Hamilton Co. Sheriff’s Office.

“Wilkey and Riley next discussed religion. They spoke for another thirty minutes, and another deputy, Tyler McRae, left sometime during this conversation. Riley testified that Wilkey asked her whether she had been baptized. She responded with concern that she may not be ready. But, according to Riley’s testimony, Wilkey told her ‘God [was] talking to him’ and assured her that, if she got baptized, he would only write her a citation and she would be free to go about her business,” the judge’s ruling explains. “According to Riley, Wilkey also indicated that he would speak at court on her behalf if she agreed. Riley decided to go along with this plan because she ‘[did not] want to go to jail.’ She also ‘thought [Wilkey] was a God-fearing, church-like man who saw something . . . in [her], that God talked to him,’ and testified that ‘it felt good to believe that for a minute.'”

Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston has requested the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigate Riley’s death.

The ongoing lawsuit has seen many delays due to the pandemic and other factors, and with Riley’s death, comes another hurdle.

“It could impact it negatively to the point where we would have nobody to continue to prosecute it,” said Robin Flores, Riley’s attorney.

But Flores told us the case can still move forward.

“Her deposition has already been done. Her testimony is preserved,” he noted.

Flores says a key factor will be whether Riley’s two surviving children want to take on the case, and ‘fill her shoes’ as plaintiffs.

“If we can meet all these requisites, I fully intend to finish the prosecution of this case in federal court, it needs to be prosecuted,” Flores said. “I think the history of it in the media will show that a baptism by a police officer in the line of duty, in exchange for leniency in a criminal case is beyond the pale.”

File photo of Soddy Lake: WTVC

Riley at first pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance after what happened the night of her arrest. But in November of 2019, District Attorney Pinkston’s office set aside Riley’s guilty plea.

Last week, a judge responded to Goforth’s request to drop some of the claims Riley made in the suit.

Judge Travis McDonough wrote “No government interest is furthered by the baptism of a detainee by an on-duty law-enforcement officer.” To the contrary, Judge McDonough wrote “[i]t is beyond dispute that, at a minimum, the Constitution guarantees that the government may not coerce anyone to support or participate in religion or its exercise, or otherwise act in a way which establishes a state religion.”

Riley does have a history of drug charges since the incident in 2019. She was supposed to go to court for some of those this coming Monday April 18th.