Dover man sentenced in 2017 fatal shooting

After guilty plea, prison term 35 years

A Dover man has been sentenced in Pope County Circuit Court to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the March 2017 shotgun slaying of another man, according to court records.

Nathaniel Symonds, 20, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Oct. 15, according to a plea agreement. Five years were added because of a firearm enhancement and will be served consecutively with the murder sentence, court records showed.

Symonds was charged initially with first-degree murder in the March 17, 2017, death of Ronald Dean Esserman Jr., 42, of Dover. The charge was reduced as part of the plea agreement.

Symonds also was charged with residential burglary, but that charge was dismissed.

A probable-cause statement by Pope County sheriff's office Lt. Jacob Yarbrough said officers were called to 245 Old Meadows Road in Dover where they found Esserman dead of apparent gunshot wounds in the front yard of a mobile home. Symonds was found in a home down the street and was arrested.

Dover is about 10 miles north of Russellville.

According to the statement, Symonds told investigators that Esserman attacked him, hitting and kicking him until Symonds was able to get away.

Symonds went to his grandfather's home about 100 yards away and got a shotgun, the statement said. He walked back toward the mobile home and fired a warning shot into the air. Symonds told deputies that he encountered Esserman in the front yard of the mobile home and shot him.

"He said the victim fell to the ground and exclaimed, 'I'm gonna die,'" Yarbrough's statement said. "[Symonds] said the victim began to crawl away from him, and [Symonds] shot him several more times. [Symonds] said he then walked up to the victim and shot him in the back of the head."

State Desk on 10/26/2018

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