A man who was part of a deadly encounter with a Roane County deputy and another individual is no longer in federal custody. Officials say Rocky Houston was being held in Bradley County yesterday where he will be transferred to a halfway house in Knoxville. This is where inmates adjust back to life outside of confinement and are allowed to leave for a couple of hours a day to look for a job.

Rocky Houston was scheduled to be released from prison September 11, 2020.

He was sentenced by a federal judge in 2014 to 9 years in prison after being convicted of a felon in possession of firearms. That charge came from a January 2013 raid by ATF agents at the Houston home in Roane County. A jury convicted Rocky in March 2014.

Rocky, and his brother Leon, reportedly got into a firefight in 2006 with Roane County Deputy Bill Jones after Jones attempted to serve a warrant. The encounter resulted in the deaths of Jones and Mike Brown, who was riding along with him. Rocky was shot in the hip and Leon surrendered hours later. A trial took place and the jury was deadlocked on the murder charges Rocky faced. In November 2009, he was found not guilty.