Nathan Jerome Smith, 24, of Richton was charged with capital murder in 2019 but accepted a plea deal July 18 of a reduced charge of second-degree murder.
Smith was charged in the Oct. 29, 2019 robbery and shooting death of Essic "Cooter Monk" Darby of Kokomo. Marion County Sheriff's deputies were called to Hunter Lane around 8:30 p.m. and found Darby with a gunshot wound. Darby was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
Smith has been sentenced to 40 years with 33 to serve day-for-day as a result of the accepted plea deal. The sentence was handed down by Judge Claiborne "Buddy" McDonald, IV on July 18.
District Attorney Hal Kittrell said the family of the victim agreed to the offer that was extended in light of the earlier first-degree murder conviction of Rico Roberts, who was given a sentence of life in prison by Claiborne.
"Marion County will not tolerate such senseless violence," Kittrell said. "The community is safer with Smith and Roberts off the streets."
Roberts was also offered a plea but rejected it and chose to go to trial, where he was found guilty by a jury of his peers in March.
The District Attorney's Office said that circumstantial evidence pointed to Roberts being the shooter, but both men were equally culpable in the decision to break in the home that night. As current law stands, neither man will have a chance for parole.
