Johnson County man sentenced for slaying

A Johnson County man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for first-degree murder.

Brian Anthony White, 22, entered a negotiated plea of guilty, according to a sentencing order filed Friday in Johnson County Circuit Court. He was given credit for 421 days in jail.

White and three other men were charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Vernice “Duwayne” Ledbetter, 29, who disappeared after a New Year’s Eve bonfire in 2017.

Ledbetter was reported missing on New Year’s Day 2018. His badly burned body was found Jan. 22 in a remote area north of Hagarville.

Isaac Taylor Vaughn, 21, also has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the case, said Bruce Wilson, deputy prosecuting attorney. Vaughn has yet to be sentenced.

The murder charge against Phillip Andrew Raible, 30, was dropped last week when he entered a negotiated plea of no contest to a charge of hindering apprehension. Raible was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was given credit for 414 days in jail.

Zachary Aaron Geels, 26, is the lone defendant now. He pleaded innocent, and his trial is scheduled for June 24.

According to an affidavit for Geels’ arrest warrant, Ledbetter spoke to his wife by telephone Dec. 31, 2017, telling her he was with White in a pickup “going up on the mountain to get more firewood.”

But something changed at a bonfire shortly afterward.

Vaughn told police that Geels “put Ledbetter on the ground,” according to the affidavit.

“They took his phone and started going through it and found ‘cop stuff,’” according to the court document.

Vaughn told police that Raible and Geels tied Ledbetter’s hands together with wire. They forced Ledbetter into the pickup and took him to another location, according to the affidavit.

“Vaughn said Ledbetter was ‘pistol whipped’ and that White walked up to him and shot Ledbetter five times,” according to the affidavit.

White told police Vaughn shot Ledbetter, according to the affidavit.

Wilson said all four men were liable accomplices in the homicide even if only one of them pulled the trigger.