Napoleon Dangelo JusticeThe co-defendant of a man who received life in prison for a 2011 murder has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and already is eligible for parole.
Napoleon Dangelo Justice, 24, had been charged with first-degree murder along with Jerrico “Ri-Ri” Hawthorne, 26, in the July 27, 2011, robbery-turned-killing of James Williams Jr., 23.
Hawthorne went on trial in August. A jury found him guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
On Tuesday morning, Justice pleaded guilty in Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Rebecca Stern’s courtroom to facilitation of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to eight years.
Under Tennessee Department of Correction guidelines he must serve 30 percent of that sentence, or two years and five months, before he is parole eligible. Justice has been in jail custody since shortly after the July 27, 2011, crime.