Two persons who made an open plea to the court in April to the 2017 beating death of Rock-dale resident Emily Hacker will learn their fates over the next two weeks.
John Young-blood, 20th District Court Judge, is scheduled to sentence Candice Nicole Jones, 32, of Rock-dale, on Thursday.
Edward Brannon Barry, 32, of Caldwell, is to be sentenced on Aug. 16.
Jones and Barry were two of four persons originally arrested in connection with the death of 32-year-old Hacker on Jan. 19, 2017, at 530 Coulter in Rockdale.
Prosecutor Bill Torrey said the other two—Ashley Yvonne Wesson-Zawadzke and John Stewart, 23 and 26 respectively at the time—agreed to testify against Jones and Barry and will be sentenced at a later date.
SENTENCE—All four were originally charged with, and indicted for, capital murder which can carry the death penalty.
That charge was later changed to first-degree murder.
Torrey has asked for a 50-year sentence for Jones and Barry.
He told The Reporter he believes the two “will never see the light of day.”
“All murder sentences, except life without parole, are calculated at a maximum of 60 years,” he said. “A cap of 50 years (on the sentence) means that after a pre-sentence report and sentencing hearing a defendant would have to serve 25 years, day-for-day, on a murder plea.”
At that point Torrey said the prisoner would become eligible “but not entitled” for parole.
Such parole would have to be granted through the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. “That’s probably the most conservative administrative body in the world,” he said.
FIFTH DEFENDANT—
Hacker’s burned body was found Jan. 28, 2017, in a rural area of Burleson County in the vicinity of Lyons.
On Feb. 9 of that year, Kevin Cormier, then 31, of Caldwell, was charged with “tampering/fabricating physical evidence (human corpse) with intent to impair.”
It was alleged Cormier participated in moving and burying Hacker’s body.
Cormier was never charged in connection with the murder itself.
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