2008 Woodie Awards
Eckerle agrees to plea deal, out now
Dan Potter
Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: News
The defendant has agreed to a plea deal in the case of a robbery-turned-shootout that took place last January at Campus Crossings South on Rutherford Boulevard. MTSU students in the department of criminal justice assisted the district attorney's office in preparing to try the case.
Thomas Eckerle, Jr., was charged with attempting to rob and bind Michael Holt, who lived in the apartment, and Christopher Deberry, a recent MTSU graduate, who fatally shot Eckerle's accomplice, Alan Bruce Bell, in self-defense. Both Eckerle and Deberry were badly wounded in the subsequent shootout.
Eckerle accepted the deal - two counts of attempted aggravated robbery and two counts of attempted aggravated kidnapping - with a sentence of eight years in prison but allowing for parole after one, the Murfreesboro Post reported.
Receiving credit for time served, Eckerle was released from jail the same day he pleaded - Dec. 13.
"I'm not real pleased with the result," said Assistant District Attorney Paul Newman.
He prosecuted the case along with Assistant District Attorney Tom Jackson.
"The deal ensued after consulting with one of the victims, who was in the Air Force," and had to return to the service, Newman said, referring to Holt. The deal resulted from "serious discrepancies in the testimony regarding exactly what happened and how it occurred."
"We had to take into account the possibility that this case would not go as good as we hoped it would," Newman said.
Complicating the prosecution's effort to establish a clear sequence of events, some of those present were impaired by the use of marijuana and hydrocodone.
Further hampering the prosecution, the state of Florida was slow in answering a request for information about Eckerle, who has a criminal record there. "We got it last week," Newman said, though the trial concluded last month.
Eckerle is expected to transfer his parole to Florida, in part due to his medical situation following the incident, said Jason Winsett, who graduated from MTSU in December and majored in criminal justice.
Thomas Eckerle, Jr., was charged with attempting to rob and bind Michael Holt, who lived in the apartment, and Christopher Deberry, a recent MTSU graduate, who fatally shot Eckerle's accomplice, Alan Bruce Bell, in self-defense. Both Eckerle and Deberry were badly wounded in the subsequent shootout.
Eckerle accepted the deal - two counts of attempted aggravated robbery and two counts of attempted aggravated kidnapping - with a sentence of eight years in prison but allowing for parole after one, the Murfreesboro Post reported.
Receiving credit for time served, Eckerle was released from jail the same day he pleaded - Dec. 13.
"I'm not real pleased with the result," said Assistant District Attorney Paul Newman.
He prosecuted the case along with Assistant District Attorney Tom Jackson.
"The deal ensued after consulting with one of the victims, who was in the Air Force," and had to return to the service, Newman said, referring to Holt. The deal resulted from "serious discrepancies in the testimony regarding exactly what happened and how it occurred."
"We had to take into account the possibility that this case would not go as good as we hoped it would," Newman said.
Complicating the prosecution's effort to establish a clear sequence of events, some of those present were impaired by the use of marijuana and hydrocodone.
Further hampering the prosecution, the state of Florida was slow in answering a request for information about Eckerle, who has a criminal record there. "We got it last week," Newman said, though the trial concluded last month.
Eckerle is expected to transfer his parole to Florida, in part due to his medical situation following the incident, said Jason Winsett, who graduated from MTSU in December and majored in criminal justice.
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