A plea deal was reached Wednesday morning in Christian Circuit Court for 24-year old Dequavion James, one of the two men charged with murder for their roles in the 2016 shooting death of De’Andre Palmer in Oak Grove.
The original arrest warrant says that on July 16, 2016, James was told by 25-year old Leonardo Miller to shoot Palmer when given a nod. When Miler nodded to James, he pulled the trigger and shot Palmer once. Palmer was then shot a second time by Miller and Palmer’s body was eventually discarded near Ghost Bridge on Carter Road.
James on Wednesday morning pled guilty to manslaughter in the first-degree, first-degree robbery and tampering with evidence as part of a deal that comes with a recommended 20 year sentence.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling noted the victim’s family had traveled to Christian County for the hearing and asked for James to be sentenced immediately after accepting the deal, noting he isn’t eligible for probation.
Judge John Atkins agreed with defense attorney Ted Shouse that a pre-sentence investigation should be done prior to sentencing.
Miller previously pled guilty to murder, robbery and evidence tampering as part of a plea deal that came with a 40 year prison sentence.
Sentencing for James was scheduled for February 8.