CAMERON—A 32-year-old Caldwell man has become the second person to receive a 50-year prison term in connection with the 2017 beating death of 34-year-old Emily Hacker in Rockdale.
Edward Brannon Barry received that sentence Friday from 20th District Judge John Youngblood.
On April 11, Barry and Candice Jones, 32, of Rock-dale accepted a plea bargain and entered a guilty plea before Judge Youngblood.
The two were originally charged with capital murder. Under the plea agreement the charge became first degree murder and their sentences were capped at 50 years.
Jones received an identical 50-year sentence on Aug. 1.
Prosecutor Bill Torrey said, as part of the plea bargain, both Jones and Barry waived all rights to appear.
Both would be eligible for parole in 25 years but Torrey noted “eligible” does not mean an automatic parole and that both will have to appear before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which he termed “probably the most conservative administrative body in the world.”
If Barry and Jones serve their entire 50-year sentences they would be released at age 82, in 2069.
MORE HEARINGS—
Barry and Jones were two of four persons originally charged with the beating death of Hacker, 34, a Rock-dale resident.
Also charged with murder were two Somerville residents—Ashley Wesson-Zawadzke and John Wayne Stewart, 23 and 26.
Torrey said they turned state’s evidence and agreed to testify against Jones and Barry.
He said their cases will be adjudicated soon.
Also coming up for a hearing is a fifth person arrested in connection with the case, Kevin Cormier, 30, was charged with tampering with physical evidence/ corpse.
Cormier was not charged with the murder but with helping to move Hacker’s body to a shallow grave near Lyons in rural Burleson County.
BEATING—The original arrest affidavit, filed by then Rockdale Police Lt. J. D. Newlin, and officer Justin Duck quoted one of the co-defendants as telling police that Jones sat on Hacker’s chest and beat her with “anything she could hold in her hand.”
It also stated that Barry beat Hacker in the face with his elbows.
The co-defendant also told police a ratchet wrench was used to strike Hacker with the fatal blow.
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