CARTER COUNTY, TN (WJHL) – Two men pled guilty in court Friday in the 2014 Roan Mountain murder of Danny Vance.
A judge sentenced Anthony Lacy to life in prison without the possibility of parole and Demetrice Cordell to 25 years in prison.
Both pled guilty to 12 charges against them.
Lacy was originally facing the death penalty, but in a plea agreement he will instead spend the rest of his life in prison.
On July 4, 2014, District Attorney Tony Clark said Lacy and Cordell went to Vance’s home on Heaton Creek Road in Roan Mountain with the intent to rob him.
Clark said when they knocked on the door, Vance answered, armed with a weapon.
The two ran, but later returned looking for an item outside.
Clark says Vance came out to help them look. That’s when Lacy hit Vance in the head with a large rock, killing him.
Then, Lacy and Cordell went into Vance’s home and stole several items.
The state was seeking the death penalty on Lacy and first degree murder on Cordell.
But an offer was made to give Lacy life without parole.
“Mr. Lacy was entitled by law to mental evaluations that we do not get to see until the time of trial,” Clark said.
Cordell was charged with ‘facilitation of first degree murder’.
“He was charged with most of the crimes that Mr. Lacy was. But given the fact of his cooperation and he was going to be one of our witnesses in the trial, that’s why he received a lesser sentence today of 25 years versus life without parole that Mr. Lacy received,” Clark explained.
While behind bars for this crime, Lacy was convicted of attacking a correctional officer with a mop and another inmate with a sprinkler.
“We were going to use those two cases as enhancement factors for the death penalty,” Clark said.
While Cordell and Lacy weren’t sentenced to what Clark originally hoped for, he said he is satisfied with the outcome and so is Vance’s family.
“When you lose a loved one at the hands of someone else, you want justice you want retribution and I think that they, in talking with them, they received that today,” he said.
Lacy and Cordell will be taken to the Northeast Correctional Facility in Mountain City, then moved to Bledsoe County next week.
Anthony Lacy is convicted of the following:
First degree murder – felony
Especially aggravated robbery
Theft of property over $1,000
Evading arrest
Auto burglary
Theft of property under $500
Auto burglary
Theft of property under $500
Theft of property over $1,000
Theft of property over $1,000
Auto burglary
Theft of property under $500
Demetrice Cordell is convicted of the following:
Facilitation of first degree murder
Aggravated robbery
Theft of property over $1,000
Evading arrest
Auto burglary
Theft of property under $500
Auto burglary
Theft of property under $500
Theft of property over $1,000
Theft of property over $1,000
Auto burglary
Theft of property under $500Copyright 2017 WJHL. All rights reserved.
