High court ends fight over child of murderer

The Tennessee Supreme Court has decided the parents of a man who murdered his estranged wife can adopt the couple’s 9-year-old daughter, as opposed to the slain woman’s parents.
The decision involved a custody battle over the child of a man who opened fire at the Tennessee Department of Transportation headquarters in Jackson in 2005. David Lynn Jordan was sentenced to death for the murders of his estranged wife, Donna Renee Jordan, and two others.
The unanimous decision held that people who don’t have physical custody of a child can still adopt. The girl had been living with her mother’s parents when a Madison County judge said her father’s parents should be awarded custody.
Justices found that it was in the best interest of the child to live with the paternal grandparents because they had more financial and social resources.