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First youth pleads in murder case
JonesWEB
Tyler Allen Jones avoided pleading to a murder charge.
A plea bargain has been reached for the first of six Coffee County youths accused of killing a Mt. Leo man in his sleep during a botched drug heist – the plea coming on the one-year anniversary of the murder.The defendant, Tyler Allen Jones, 19 at the time of the crime, was allowed to enter a guilty plea Thursday to the lesser charge of facilitation to commit aggravated robbery and was directed by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to serve 366 days of a 10-year sentence, meaning he will be released on time-served.Jones will be on supervised probation for the rest of his 10-year sentence and may be subpoenaed to testify against his co-defendants. He was originally charged with first-degree murder which carries a minimum life sentence.“At best, my client was a very peripheral part,” said attorney Eric Burch, noting his client never said he was a lookout, or even a wheelman, in the robbery.District Attorney General Lisa Zavogiannis declined to comment.Jones was one of six Coffee County youths charged with the murder of Osbaldo Luna, 43, in January, 2016.