MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Decades after the slaying, a Murfreesboro pastor and the man who killed his father are planning on telling their story as friends.
The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/1BbV0ht ) reports New Vision Baptist Church pastor Phillip Robinson has befriended Ron Hammer, who killed Robinson's father Wayne Robinson in 1986. The two will speak at the pastor's church on Sunday morning. Hammer had planned to attend, but will appear to the congregation online via Skype.
Hammer spent nearly three decades in prison for shooting the elder Robinson outside of the family's Murfreesboro grocery store. Hammer wrote Robinson a letter about eight years ago, asking for forgiveness.
The two exchanged letters for years, and Robinson testified for Hammer at a parole hearing last year.
Two months after Hammer's March release, Robinson met his friend. They embraced.