Man pleads guilty to lesser counts at murder trial
BARTOW (AP) – A man, on trial for a 2007 murder, pleaded guilty to lesser counts of arson and tampering with evidence.
William Brown Jr. still faces murder and robbery charges in the death of Ryan Skipper, a 25-year-old gay man whose body was dumped in a neighborhood after he was stabbed to death.
Brown’s plea came after Assistant State Attorney Cass Castillo’s opening argument, in which he told the jury there was evidence and testimony linking Brown, 22, to the theft of Skipper’s car, and an attempt to burn the car after failing to sell it.
Following Brown’s plea to the lesser charges Monday, the first-degree murder trial resumed.
In February, Joseph Bearden, 23, was convicted of second-degree murder and given a life sentence in Skipper’s murder.