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Man will get life sentence for role in woman's death
Formal sentencing is set for April 24 for an Ovenfork man who pleaded guilty this week to participating in the murder of a 40-yearold Partridge woman nearly three years ago.
Shannon Dewayne Garland pleaded guilty Monday to helping girlfriend Rosemary Fields McClain murder Lisa Jenkins by stabbing her to death. The crime took place on March 22, 2005, inside a home Garland and McClain shared near U.S.
Garland and McClain were arrested after the body of Jenkins, a mother of five, was found over an embankment on Little Shepherd Trail near the top of Pine Mountain.
Garland has confessed to hiding the body of Jenkins after abandoning her automobile on Little Shepherd Trail. He also admitted to throwing away the murder weapon.
At the time of the murder, Garland had three prior felony convictions in McCreary Circuit Court and meets all requirements for being a persistent felony offender in the first degree.
A plea agreement reached between Garland and Letcher Commonwealth's Attorney Edison G. Banks II calls for Garland to testify against McClain when her case goes to trial on April 14.
Under terms of the agreement, Garland will be sentenced to life in prison for complicity to murder, 20 years in prison for firstdegree robbery, and five years in prison for complicity to theft by unlawful taking.
Jenkins was murdered after she was robbed of prescription pain pills she had in her possession.
Garland will also be sentenced to five years in prison for complicity to theft of a controlled substance and five years for tampering with physical evidence. The agreement also calls for the dismissal of a charge of first-degree being a persistent felony offender.
Banks has agreed to recommend that all sentences be served concurrently and not consecutively. The offer is contingent upon the Garland's agreement to not seek or accept parole, conditional discharge, shock probation, or probation before 20 full years have passed since the date Garland was arrested.
The agreement says Garland "will admit his guilt to the charges herein, and will further provide truthful and complete details concerning these charges including the names of all persons having any role whatsoever in the murder of Lisa Jenkins, including the planning or commission of the murder, as well as to provide any motive for such murder, along with the names of the persons who may have participated in the robbery of Lisa Jenkins or the theft of her property or the removal and concealment of the body of Lisa Jenkins and in any attempt to conceal any of these several crimes."
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