A Pea Ridge man was sentenced to 30 years is prison after admitting to killing a man.
Darin Michael Etherton, 28, stood in court Friday morning and admitted his guilt in the 2011 murder of Brent Test.
Etherton pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree. He was originally charged with capital murder, but agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge under a plea agreement his attorney Drew Miller reached with Chief Deputy Prosecutor Stuart Cearley.
Test, 25, died from two gunshots to the head.
Rogers police were called to 1309 E. New Hope Road at 3:23 p.m. May 20, 2011 for a report of an unconscious man with a head injury, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Aug. 18. Brian Hanna, Rogers police detective, said he arrived on the scene as paramedics were taking Test out of the home on a stretcher, according to court documents.
Test had possible blunt force trauma to the head and was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Rogers, according to court documents.
Cenia Duvall, Test’s roommate, told police she found the front door of the residence open when she returned from work and she saw Test was bleeding and ran to a neighbor’s house for help, according to the aft davit.
Police learned from an emergency room doctor that Test had been shot twice in the head, the affidavit states.
According to court documents, Etherton told a Benton County sheriff's deputy that he killed Test.
Circuit Judge Jon Comstock accepted the plea agreement and Etherton's guilty plea.
Etherton was sentenced to 30 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction and he must serve 21 years before he will be eligible for parole.