One of the four co-defendants who received a probated sentence for her role in the September, 2018 shooting death of Jerry Robertson on State Line Road near Allensville is back in jail after allegedly violating her conditions in multiple ways.
Twenty-seven-year-old Brandi Scruggs of Russellville pled guilty in October to first-degree wanton endangerment and received a five-year probated sentence. She admitted to driving Robertson on the day in question and to pulling the car over so that her co-defendants in a pickup following her could confront Robertson about Facebook posts they all wanted deleted. She also claimed Robertson pulled a gun from his clothes and fired the first shots.
She was ordered to not commit any new crimes and to not contact Robertson’s family and Commonwealth’s Attorney Neil Kerr says she violated both of those conditions.
The new charges came on December 27 when she was arrested by authorities in Logan County for possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and tampering with evidence.
Scruggs also failed to appear for a court appearance regarding court costs and fines on November 27 and was wanted on that warrant at the time of her drug arrest. Her attorney argued that the court notice went to a previous address where Scruggs no longer lived.
Scruggs and her attorney asked for bond to be reduced from $75,000, but Kerr contended it’s likely she will re-offend again if she gets out.
Judge Joe Hendricks reduced Scruggs’ total bond to $12,500 and ordered the same conditions of release, if she’s able to post that amount. Scruggs will be back in court next Wednesday and a hearing will be held February 5 to determine if her probation will be revoked.
The alleged gunman accused of firing the shot that killed Robertson, Daniel Westbrook, is charged with murder and is awaiting trial.
Douglas Cropper, Faith Martin and Timmie Latham all accepted deals similar to Scruggs’ with five-year probated sentences.
Click here for additional coverage of this case.
