2 plead guilty in pond murder
A man and a woman pleaded guilty to manslaughter last week in connection with the Hope pond murder last year.
A third defendant, James Walter Kelly, is scheduled for trial on capital murder charges this summer, according to District Attorney Steven Kilgore.
In all, nine people were arrested and charged after the body of Demarcus Houston was found Oct. 20, 2019, weighted down in a pond.
In the plea last week, Tyrone Braxton, 24, and Joanna Brook Gilmer, 26, both of Neshoba County were sentenced.
The case was made a capital case because of an underlying charge of kidnapping. Houston had died by suffocation before being dumped in the pond, according to officials.
In a plea bargain with the District Attorney’s Office, both were allowed to plead guilty to the manslaughter charges.
Braxton was sentenced to 20 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Gilmer was sentenced to 12 years.
Houston’s family had reported him missing Oct. 23, 2019.
Of the original nine charged, a grand jury later returned five indictments — three capital murder defendants — Braxton, Gilmer and Kelly — and two for accessory after the fact of capital murder — Justus Barfield and Ian Caleb Thompson.
The accessory cases against Barfield and Thompson are still pending, Kilgore said.
“Braxton and Gilmer both pleaded guilty to manslaughter,” Kilgore said. “The third defendant is going to trial.
There is a motion to bring in the state group, Capital Defense, through the state Public Defenders Office, Kilgore said.
They are brought in anytime there is a death penalty case. “As of right now, we are seeking the death penalty,” Kilgore said of the case against Kelly.
“They will need some time to investigate and figure their job out. We don’t have a timeline. We are hoping to do it in July … for that trial.”
Circuit court is currently in a dual session in Philadelphia and Decatur.
Kilgore reported the following people who pleaded guilty and their sentences:
• Patrick Atkinson, 40, pleaded guilty burglary of a camp house, and burglary of a storage shed. He was sentenced to drug court;
• James Clingan, 26, pleaded guilty to business, burglary, burglary of a shed and burglary of a camper; sentenced to 14 years in the custody with the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC);
• Austin Jarriel, 21, pleaded guilty to possession of synthetic marijuana and guilty to possession of cocaine. Sentenced to three years in the custody of MDOC;
• Michael Wilson, age unavailable, pleaded guilty to felon in possession of a firearm five counts; sentenced to five years with MDOC;
• Justin Little, a former intern in the Union Public School District, pleaded guilty to gratification of lust; was sentenced to five years with MDOC. Little must register as a sex offender;
• Dalton Durant, 24, pleaded guilty to auto burglary and burglary of a building; sentenced to drug court;
• Destiny Spink, 24, pleaded guilty to auto burglary, burglary of a building three counts. And possession of methamphetamine; sentenced to drug court;
• Andrew Bondie, 40, pleaded guilty to burglary of unoccupied dwelling; sentenced to drug court;
• Scotty Bell, 40, pleaded guilty to DUI 3rd offense; sentenced to drug court;
• Adrian Jackson, 21, pleaded guilty to statutory rape; sentenced to 30 years in MDOC custody; must register as a sex offender.
Kilgore’s office plans to try three cases a week for the next three weeks, in Philadelphia and Decatur.
“We are trying to work down the backlog we have because of the pandemic,” Kilgore said.
While he described the schedule as fluid, Kilgore said the first to go on trial would be Donald Ray Jolly, 47, of Union, who was indicted last year on four counts of statutory rape.
The indictment listed four separate incidents between April 2018 and October 2019.
Jolly is alleged to have had intercourse with a female under the age of 14.
He was arrested in January 2020 by the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Department.