I-40 shooter will never get out of prison, DA says
ARAPAHO — A murderer unexpectedly pleaded guilty Tuesday to going on a deadly drunken shooting spree on Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma just days before Christmas in 2015.
Jeremy Doss Hardy, 38, agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison rather than risk getting a death sentence at trial for two random murders.
"We all walked out of the courtroom absolutely shocked," Caddo County District Attorney Jason Hicks said. "I never in a million years thought we'd walk in the courtroom and hear Jeremy Hardy say, 'Guilty,' but he did."
The plea came on the day jury selection for his trial was to begin in Custer County District Court.
Hardy had shown no remorse since an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper pulled him over early Dec. 17, 2015. He had even muttered to himself while alone in the
patrol car about things being funny, according to a recording. He often seemed smug in court.
In a surprise, defense attorneys sought a deal on the eve of trial. Hicks and Custer County District Attorney Angela Marsee agreed after consulting with the murder victims' families.
Hardy admitted Tuesday to fatally shooting two drivers, firing at four others and trying to ram another from behind.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for each of the murders. He was sentenced to the maximum punishment on other offenses. "He's never going to get out,"
Hicks said.
The oil-field worker from Texas was in Oklahoma working at a drilling site near El Reno. He went on a shooting spree after a night of drinking in Oklahoma City on Dec. 16, 2015. He admitted to the trooper he had been drinking whiskey shots and beer.
Killed were Kent Powell, 45, of Arapaho, and Billie Jean West, 63, of Lone Wolf.
Powell was shot in the back as he drove home with his wife in their sport utility vehicle. They were coming from the Oklahoma City airport after completing a business trip to Florida.
West was shot in the hip as she returned home from Christmas shopping. A police officer found her in her Volkswagen Beetle in the grass at an I-40 exit in Weatherford.