A co-defendant charged in a 4-year-old double homicide pleaded guilty to two counts of capital murder Monday in Faulkner County Circuit Court under Judge Charles Clawson.
Troy Allen Crook, 33, was one of two men accused in the August 2008 assault and murder of two cousins, Lonnie Brock, 62, and Bobby Brock, 45, at their home on Brown Road near Vilonia.
Ronald Dean Charles, 35, of Cabot pleaded guilty last year to two counts of capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of being paroled for his role in the shooting deaths.The murdered cousins were discovered by family members, who found one body inside of the home and the other in the yard.
Charles told the court last year that he and Crook had been high on crack cocaine and planned to rob the Brock cousins of a gun they believed to have been in their possession. Charles explained that selling the gun would allow Crook and himself to purchase more cocaine. However, when the events of the crime escalated, the suspects assaulted the cousins and eventually shot them.
Crook was sentenced to 100 years in prison. He will not be eligible for parole until he is 103 years old.
Comments (18)
Add commentGood thing...
...he's got the tear drop tat going on, because I'm sure not shedding any tears for this scumbag.
You know....
I get your point, really. This is a murdering drug fiend and justice is being served.
But still, this is some momma's kid. I see guys like this (and in the years have gotten to know guys like this) and I think of them as little kids, maybe wanted to be a astronaut or fireman or something, some little kid excited about going to school, maybe excited about getting some little trophy for winning a spelling bee or something.
And somewhere between then and now life's hope jumped the tracks. Dude and drugs got a relationship going, the sort of relationship where it seems like a good idea to rob and kill in order to get more drugs, get a teardrop tattooed on the face, just stupid. This is the kind of stupid you get when the drugs take over your thinking for you, when you're not even who you were, you're just some cocaine receptacle needing a constant refill.
Somewhere between birth and now a life was utterly wasted, now going to jail for 100 years. And yeah, sure, two lives (that we know of) suffering even greater waste, of course, so of course dude should go to jail for this crime.
The point being that somewhere between birth and the crime something went way outside the lines. This is a tragedy, not just for the victims families, but for all of us, that one of our species turned out so completely wrong.
I've seen this over the years, little kids, decent kids, and somewhere in the passage to adulthood just get into various vices, wind up drugged out and escalating in stupidity until one day they go through the door you can't come back through. It's just sad.
That's why I can't de-humanize, can't speak of the criminal as if a cur dog. (And again, the crime is reprehensible, I acknowledge that.) But this is a human, some mother's child, some, way back there, hope for tomorrow. Now this. Sad.
well said
I'm as "anti-crime" as anyone I know, but you're right on in your post, Igor.
Igor the Wise
Wish there was a "share" button for comments like this one. Spot on.
"That's why I can't
"That's why I can't de-humanize, can't speak of the criminal as if a cur dog. (And again, the crime is reprehensible, I acknowledge that.) But this is a human, some mother's child, some, way back there, hope for tomorrow. Now this. Sad."
Again,igor, amen!
Nothing funny about treating any human as if their 'sins' make them other than our 'brother or sister'...much less like a 'cur dog' (though as a dog lover, I take exception to that, too). But I must've missed those exception clauses in all that 'love thy neighbor as thyself' stuff...and then there's one of my favorite truisms: 'There but by the Grace of God go all of us.'
Yes, I've been lucky enough to never have faced a loved one gone so wrong, including myself; but none of us know what we'd be, what we'd do if our lives hadn't been blessed with good homes, family that loved us and/or another human who stepped in to help us find our way. Have a heart, people.
Of course criminals should be held accountable for their crimes, but the incessant yuck-ups on this blog whenever their pics appear...turn my stomach.
I think this is the only thing I've ever agreed with you on.
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Lucky igor..and proof that
Lucky igor...and proof that miracles do happen.
not to get too sciencey
but I read this article today and I thought it was very interesting and somewhat applicable to Igor's point:
http://www.mpg.de/6643282/childhood-trauma-dna
Basically it says that childhood trauma physicially changes DNA, as in breaks a part of it off so that the DNA no longer functions the same.
Some interesting excerpts:
"Extreme stress and the associated high concentrations of stress hormones bring about what is called an epigenetic change. A methyl group is broken off the DNA at this point, causing a marked increase in FKBP5 activity. This lasting epigenetic change is generated primarily through childhood traumatisation."
"The consequence is a permanent dysregulation of the victim's stress hormone system, which can ultimately lead to psychiatric illness. "
which would explain
The instances of child abusers receiving a less-than-hospitable welcome to the prison system.
This is why divorce is so terrible for children.
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