Man pleads guilty to murder in shooting in Walmart parking lot

 

Note: This story was last updated at 5:33 p.m.

A 33-year-old man pleaded guilty to murder Monday after a shooting in the parking lot at the Walmart in Clinton last year, and he also pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping after severely beating and shooting at a woman near Briceville, authorities said.

Robert Keith “Robbie” Myers pleaded guilty on Monday to the second-degree murder of Marshall Pinsly on April 28, 2017, and he also pleaded guilty to the attempted second-degree murder and kidnapping of Brandy Moneymaker on February 8, 2017, according to Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark. The plea agreement was heard in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Monday, Clark said in a press release.

Myers received back-to-back prison sentences of 15 years and 12 years. He has an effective sentence of 27 years, which he will serve without the possibility of parole, Clark said.

 

Moneymaker and the family of Pinsly were in court on Monday, and they supported the plea agreement, Clark said. A representative of Pinsly’s family made a statement to the court about the impact of his murder, Clark said. Deputy District Attorney Tony Craighead announced the plea agreement and the factors that supported the plea.

The press release said Pinsly was married to Myers’ ex-wife, and the two had an ongoing disagreement. The two had a chance encounter on a nearby roadway on April 28, 2017, the press release said. Pinsly followed Myers’ vehicle into the Walmart parking lot, and Pinsly got out of his car and approached the driver’s door of Myers’ vehicle, the release said.

“Myers shot Pinsly with a handgun as Pinsly approached the driver’s door,” the release said.

Pinsly, a 23-year-old Blaine resident, died of a single gunshot wound, authorities said last year.

“The two are believed to have been involved in a disagreement over child visitation,” Clark said at the time. “Mr. Pinsly approached Mr. Myers’ vehicle in the Walmart parking lot, and Mr. Myers is accused of shooting Mr. Pinsly without legal justification.

The murder investigation included interviews with a “large number” of witnesses and the collection of digital evidence, including photos, cell phone data, and video surveillance recordings, Clark said last year.

On Monday, Myers received a 15-year sentence for his second-degree murder conviction.

In the second case, which was from February 2017, Myers pleaded guilty to the attempted second-degree murder and kidnapping of Moneymaker near Briceville.

The press release said Myers drove Moneymaker to a remote area and forced her out of the car. She was severely beaten and then Myers shot at her, Clark said.

“Myers mistakenly thought he had fatally struck Moneymaker with a bullet when he had actually missed,” the press release said. “Moneymaker made her way on foot to an area residence and called for help.”

Moneymaker was found on New River Highway in rural north Anderson County. She was reported to have had cuts, broken bones, and a brain injury. She was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, where doctors performed emergency surgery to address her injuries.

Moneymaker alleged she had been beaten by Myers at a home on Airbase Road in Briceville, where Myers lived with Tommy Dearing, Clark said.

“Ms. Moneymaker further alleged that after the beating, she was loaded in a truck and transported at gunpoint to a remote mountain mining area, where she was forced out of the truck by Mr. Myers, shot at, and left for dead on a mountainside,” Clark said last year.

On Monday, Myers received the maximum 12-year sentence for aggravated kidnapping and attempted second-degree murder in that case, Clark said.

Myers was indicted in a special grand jury session in May 2017 and then arrested by the Clinton Police Department.

Dearing, a co-defendant, was arrested last year. The current status of his case wasn’t immediately clear late Monday afternoon.

See previous story from May 18, 2017, here.

More information will be added as it becomes available.