Story Published:
Oct 4, 2007 at 3:28 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Aug 3, 2009 at 3:56 PM CDT
OZARK, Mo. -- A first-degree murder trial abruptly ended on Tuesday afternoon when a woman from Nixa pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
Under a
plea agreement with the Christian County prosecuting attorney, Crystal Broyles likely will receive a 12- or 13-year prison sentence for second-degree murder.
Investigators said Broyles is one of two people who injected David Masters with a lethal dose of cocaine on March 1, 2005, and dumped his body next to the James River west of Nixa. Until Tuesday, she was charged with first-degree murder and faced a possible death penalty if she were convicted.
Attorneys and the judge picked
a jury in Rolla on Monday. The jury
came to Ozark on Monday night and heard opening statements and the beginning of
testimony before Broyles’ attorney and Prosecuting Attorney Ron Cleek
negotiated the plea agreement.
Cleek recommends a 13-year
sentence and Broyles’ attorney is asking for a 12-year sentence.
The prison sentence for second-degree murder could be between 10 and 30
years. Circuit Judge John Moody of Mansfield scheduled a sentencing hearing for Dec. 14.
Masters is a former prosecuting
attorney in Macon County, Mo. Investigators
said Broyles, Masters and Thomas Naumann were roommates in Nixa who got in a
dispute because the other two said Masters owed them money for rent.
Detectives believe Naumann and
Broyles tied Masters to a chair with plastic ties, threatened him with a gun and
then injected him with cocaine. An
autopsy showed Masters’ body had 40 times a lethal dose of cocaine in his
body.
Masters, 52, was Macon County
prosecuting attorney for eight years in the 1990s.
Friends and family members say something happened that caused him to
abandon his life in north Missouri. He
was the father of seven.
Naumann is scheduled for trial
on Dec. 2 for first-degree murder, also before Judge Moody. Broyles’
sister, Brandi Storment of Bolivar, was charged for Masters’ death along with
Naumann and Broyles but Cleek dropped the charge against her as the
investigation continued.