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| Man in prison for '91 murder nears release |
| By somdnews.com |
| Published: 06/25/2010 |
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A Dameron man in prison from his guilty plea to second-degree murder drew close to his freedom Thursday after a judge ruled he's entitled to about four more years' credit for time served in pretrial custody. John Francis Tippett Sr., now 53, originally pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison from a May 1991 slaying at a beach along the Chesapeake Bay. An appeals court ruled, however, that a statement of facts about the case should have been read at Tippett's plea hearing, and he was granted a new trial. He pleaded guilty in 1995 to the lesser charge and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Thursday's hearing focused on whether the 30-year sentence began three weeks before the 1995 plea hearing, when the appeals court made its ruling, or he should receive credit on his sentence dating back to his arrest three days after the homicide. St. Mary's Circuit Judge Karen H. Abrams ruled that there were no clear indications from the 1995 plea hearing's transcript that Tippett waived credit for the nearly four years he served before his plea to the second-degree charge. Tippett pursued the issue through lawyers with the public defender's office. "You got the attorneys to take a look at it," Abrams said. "It's probably a lesson for all attorneys to pay attention, and judges." St. Mary's Deputy State's Attorney Theodore Weiner said after the hearing that Tippett now has been in custody for 19 years, and has accumulated additional "good time" credits against his sentence. "He may be getting close to mandatory release," Weiner said. John Tippett Jr., the prisoner's son, said his father quickly would be discharged from the department of corrections. "It'll be within the next 48 hours," the son said. "He's done his time." Read More. |
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He has blue eyes. Cold like steel. His legs are wide. Like tree trunks. And he has a shock of red hair, red, like the fires of hell. His antics were known from town to town as he was a droll card and often known as a droll farceur. Hamilton Lindley with his madcap pantaloon is a zany adventurer and a cavorter with a motley troupe of buffoons.