Two Carter County men charged with the 2014 murder of Roan Mountain resident Danny Ray Vance entered guilty pleas in the case on Friday in Criminal Court.

Anthony Joseph Lacy, 20, and Demetrice Dontrail Cordell, 22, both of Roan Mountain were indicted by a Carter County Grand Jury with multiple charges in connection with what police described as a crime spree in July 2014 in the Roan Mountain community. Vance was killed during that crime spree according to police.

On Friday, Lacy entered a plea of guilty to charges of first-degree murder (murder during the commission of a felony), especially aggravated robbery, three counts of theft of property over $1,000, evading arrest, three counts of auto burglary, and two counts of theft of property under $500. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the state dismissed charges of first-degree murder (premeditation), aggravated burglary, theft of property over $500, and coercion of a witness against Lacy.

Judge Stacy Street sentenced Lacy to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the first-degree murder conviction, which was the sentence outlined in the plea agreement. District Attorney General Tony Clark had filed a notice with the court of the state’s intent to seek the death penalty against Lacy at trial. Lacy was scheduled to stand trial on the charges against him later this month.

“Do you understand in count number 2, on your plea to first-degree felony murder, you are going to receive a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole,” Street asked Lacy in court on Friday. “Do you understand that means exactly what it says, that you will spend the rest of your life in the state penitentiary? Do you understand that?”

“Yes,” Lacy replied.

The court sentenced Lacy to serve 15 years for the especially aggravated robbery conviction, one year for each count of theft of property over $1,000, 11 months and 29 days for the evading arrest conviction, one year for each count of auto burglary, and 11 months and 29 days for each count of theft of property under $500. All of those sentences will run concurrently with the sentence on the murder conviction.

Street asked Lacy if he had anything he would like to say to the court regarding his conviction and Lacy said “No.”

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Cordell’s original charge of first-degree murder (murder during the commission of a felony) was reduced to facilitation to commit first-degree murder, and the charge of especially aggravated robbery was reduced to aggravated robbery. Cordell also pled guilty to charges of theft of property under $1,000, three counts of theft of property over $1,000, evading arrest, three counts of auto burglary, and three counts of theft of property under $500. As part of the plea agreement, the state dismissed charges of first-degree murder (premeditation) and aggravated burglary against Cordell.

Street gave Cordell an effective sentence of 25 years in prison, which was the sentence outlined in the plea agreement.

Cordell received a 25-year sentence for the conviction of facilitation to commit first-degree murder (felony murder). Because Cordell is classified as a “standard offender,” he will have to serve 30 percent of that sentence before he would be eligible for parole.

On the conviction for aggravated robbery, Cordell received a sentence of 10 years. State law mandates that anyone convicted of aggravated robbery serve a minimum of 85 percent of their sentence before they are eligible for parole. The robbery sentence will run concurrently with the sentence on the murder conviction.

Cordell received sentences of 11 months and 29 days on each count of theft of property under $500, evading arrest, and theft under $1,000. He received a 1-year sentence on each count of auto burglary and theft of property over $1,000. Those sentences will also run concurrently with his sentence for the murder conviction.

Street asked Cordell if he had anything he would like to say to the court following his conviction and Cordell said: “No, sir.”

As part of the proceedings, Street asked the District Attorney’s office to relate the facts of the cases against Lacy and Cordell to the court.

District Attorney General Tony Clark and Assistant District Attorney General Dennis Brooks shared with the court the events of July 3-4, 2014, which ended with the murder of Danny Ray Vance at his home in Roan Mountain.

According to the state, Lacy and Cordell were involved in a series of thefts throughout Roan Mountain and went to Vance’s home with the intention of robbing him. When Vance came outside him home armed with a gun Lacy and Cordell fled, but later returned to the home to search for either a cell phone or a weapon they had dropped when they were there before. During interviews with investigators, Cordell told police Vance came back outside, and the two men fled again.

“At some point, Mr. Vance comes down the road with a flashlight,” Brooks said, adding Lacy and Cordell told him they were looking for something they had lost.

“According to Mr. Cordell, Mr. Vance attempted to assist them in finding whatever was lost.”

Cordell told investigators that Vance offered to continue to search for the missing item after the sun came up and went back to his home to get something to write their phone number down on so he could call them if he found it.

“Mr. Cordell told investigators Mr. Lacy followed Mr. Vance, and when they got to the porch Mr. Lacy struck Mr. Vance in the head with a large rock,” Brooks said.