A man who entered a guilty plea as part of a resolution with the Commonwealth in the murder of a Clarksville teen was formally sentenced in Christian County Circuit Court Wednesday morning.
Chief Circuit Judge John Atkins sentenced Leonardo Miller to a total of 40 years in prison on charges of murder, first-degree robbery, and tampering with physical evidence.
Police accused Miller and Deqavion James of fatally shooting 19-year old DeAndre Palmer. The men then reportedly hid Palmer’s body in a closet before eventually dumping his body on the side of Carter Road near Ghost Bridge.
The co-defendant in this case, James previously accepted a plea agreement in June in which he pled guilty to an amended charge of first-degree manslaughter with a recommended sentence of 20-years, first-degree robbery with a 10-year sentence, and tampering with physical evidence for a 5-year sentence, all to run consecutively for a total of 30-years. However, according to court records, when James appeared in Christian Circuit Court on December 1st for formal sentencing, he had changed his mind and didn’t accept the plea deal. James went back to court on January 5th for a pretrial conference and again rejected the plea agreement at which time Judge Atkins scheduled his trial from August 22-25.
