The former Marshall County High School student charged with killing two classmates and injuring more than a dozen others during a shooting on Jan. 23, 2018, pleaded guilty to all charges in Marshall Circuit Court on Tuesday.
Gabriel Ross Parker, now 18, accepted a plea offer during his hearing which included a life sentence for the two murder charges and 70 years to-serve for the 14 assault charges. Circuit Judge Jamie Jameson said the agreement also acknowledges the Commonwealth’s opposition to probation, shock probation, or any form of early release.
The initial charges against Parker were two counts of murder — a capitol offense — and 14 charges of assault in the first degree, class B felonies. As part of the plea offer, six of the assault charges were amended to assault in the second degree, class C felonies.
The murder charges stem from the death of 15-year-olds Baily Holt and Preston Cope, who died as a result of injuries sustained during the shooting.
During the hearing, Jameson also released all subpoenaed witnesses from their subpoenas per the request of Commonwealth's Attorney Dennis Foust and Parker’s defense attorney, Tom Griffiths.
Jameson said his office will conduct a routine pre-sentencing investigation report, reviewing all charges and facts. The final sentencing is scheduled for June 12.
The April 28 hearing was initially scheduled for parties to consider a continuation of the trial, which was set to begin June 1 in Christian County. The continuation would have been necessary due to a large number of obstacles created by social-distancing mandates as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.