Ex-officer pleads guilty in drugstore killings
RUTLEDGE, Tenn. (AP) – A former police officer has pleaded guilty to murdering two people during a Tennessee pharmacy robbery last year.
District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn said in a phone interview that 38-year-old Jason Holt on Wednesday was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Dunn said Holt killed Down Home Pharmacy owner Stephen Lovell, even after Lovell complied with Holt’s request for oxycodone pills. Customer Richard Sommerville was also killed in the May 23, 2013, robbery in Bean Station, where Holt had once worked as an officer. Two employees were wounded.
Dunn said he could have pursued a death penalty case but decided to allow the plea after consulting with the victims and their relatives.
Holt had worked for Bean Station and then as a Grainger County deputy until he was placed on medical leave in 2004.
