SUMNER — With dozens of prospects on hand Monday at the Tallahatchie County Courthouse for the start of jury selection in his looming trial, a Webb man instead struck an 11th hour deal with prosecutors regarding his role in a 2016 slaying.
Lavoris Willis, 30, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder in the Oct. 12, 2016, death of 22-year-old Moseah McDanail of Tutwiler, who died in Webb of a single gunshot wound.
Willis was sentenced Monday by Circuit Judge Smith Murphey V to 20 years imprisonment with the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with that sentence to run concurrent with another he was already serving due to his conviction in a 2018 case.
Murphey also stipulated that he was classifying Willis’ offense as a “crime of violence.” Under Mississippi law, no person convicted of a crime of violence is eligible for parole or early release until serving at least 50 percent of the sentence imposed by the court.
