Guilty of accomplice : Westeen pleads guilty, gets 50 years for role in murders
Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008
ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Tim Buckley, attorney for Jesse Westeen, left, discusses a plea for his client with David Harris, Washington County deputy prosecutor, center, and John Threet, Washington County prosecuting attorney, before the start of Westeen’s trial Monday at the Washington County Courthouse. He pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of accomplice to first-degree murder in the deaths of Kevin Barkley Jones and Kendall Rachell Rice April 4, 2007, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison on each count.
A Fayetteville man pleaded guilty to two counts of accomplice to first-degree murder as jurors waited for his trial to resume Monday afternoon.
Jesse Lee Westeen, 21, was sentenced to 25 years on each count to run consecutively for a total of 50 years in prison for his role in the murder of a Fayetteville couple. He received credit for time served since his incarceration in the Washington County Detention Center on April 6, 2007.
Westeen entered the negotiated guilty plea before 4th Judicial Circuit Judge William Storey about 2 p.m. — an hour after attorneys’ opening remarks were set to begin.
“(This double murder) ranks right up there as the most horrible crime I’ve seen in 20 years as a judge,” Storey said.
Prosecutors and family members of the victims said they were pleased with the deal that requires Westeen to serve a minimum of 35 years, which is 70 percent of his two sentences, before becoming eligible for parole.
Tim Buckley, Westeen’s attorney, said he was not happy with the results Westeen of the plea agreement, but his client agreed to it because "the risks outweighed the rewards” of sending the case to the jury.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent most of the morning selecting eight women and four men as acceptable jurors to serve during the trial scheduled for two days.
Westeen faced life in prison without parole if convicted on each of the two counts of accomplice to capital murder originally filed against him for his role in the shooting deaths of Kevin Barkley Jones and Kendall Rachelle Rice. Prosecutors agreed Monday to amend the charges to accomplice to first-degree murder as part of the plea agreement.
Westeen is accused of driving Gregory Decay to Jones and Rice’s apartment on April 3, 2007, when Decay fatally shot them both in the face. He is also accused of helping Decay get rid of his blood-stained clothes in a trash bin in Springdale.
Decay was convicted on two counts of capital murder by a Washington County jury in April and sentenced to the death penalty on both counts. The case is being appealed.
The state was not seeking the death penalty against Westeen. He did not testify in the Decay trial, which lasted almost four days.
‘Big relief’ for families
Rice’s sister and mother both said they were pleased with the plea agreement and glad not to have to endure the agony of another trial. They said they are satisfied with Westeen’s prison sentence.
“The fact that it’s over is a big relief,” Rice’s sister, Kinlee Sharp, said.
Sharp said a day doesn’t go by without her thinking about the loss of her sister.
Rice’s mother said they did not want to take the chance that a jury might agree to convict Westeen on lesser charges, which is what defense attorney Tim Buckley had said he wanted jurors to consider.
“Rather than take our chances, we know he’ll be put away for a long time,” Vicki Rice, the victim’s mother, said. “He’ll be thinking long and hard — before he sees the light of day — about what he has done,”
David Harris, 4th Judicial District deputy prosecutor, said he was happy with the plea because “the families felt real good about it.”
“It’s a good sentence,” Harris said. “This case is resolved. The family does not have to worry (about the court case anymore)... They can move on from this process.”
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