A plea deal was entered Monday morning by James Gentry, the convicted murderer who cut off his ankle monitor and fled the state during his trial in July.
The jury found Gentry guilty of murder for the 2018 killing of Keith Joey Hayes in Trigg County, despite him being absent for much of the trial after cutting off his ankle monitor and fleeing to California.
The U.S. Marshal’s Service arrested him in San Diego County and he was extradited back to the Christian County Jail, served with a warrant for tampering with a prisoner monitoring device.
Gentry pled guilty to that charge Monday, with Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling noting his four-year sentence will be served concurrently with the life sentence he’s serving for the murder count.
Gentry waived formal sentencing, with Judge Andrew Self sticking with the deal.
Gentry is not eligible for parole until he’s served 25 years of his sentence, as decided by the jury at the conclusion of his murder trial.