Plea deal nets accused killer Jamie Townes 15 years

DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) -After a four-day Capital Murder trial and as jury deliberations neared, Jamie Townes agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter on Friday.

Houston County District Attorney Russ Goodman said he made the deal at the request of shooting victim Breunia Jenning’s mother, Lakesia Reaves.

“She was at peace and wanted this to happen,” he said of the bargain that sent Townes to serve a 15-year sentence. “She did not want Mr. Townes to spend the remainder of his life in prison and she had forgiven him.”

For Reaves, a burden is lifted.

“It’s been five-and-a-half years that I have dwelled on this, cried a million nights, prayed a million nights,” Reaves told News4 after she left the courtroom.

Police charged Townes in March 2018 with shooting the 23-year-old Jennings, who had stolen his car that night.

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Houston County Assistant District Attorney Seth Brooks told jurors in opening arguments that Townes used his cell phone to locate his vehicle after meeting with a controversial Dothan pastor who gave him a ride to track down his car.

Toxicology reports confirmed illegal drugs in Jenning’s system, when Townes shot--he claims in self-defense-- her during their confrontation.

For Townes, the deal means a few years locked up when he would have received life without parole had he been convicted of Capital Murder.

“We don’t know what the outcome of the case would have been,” said defense attorney Adam Parker of his endorsement of the plea agreement. “I think it was anybody’s case and up in the air.”

He called it among the strangest, with Townes and Reaves hugging and crying together.

Related: Suspected killer won’t contest bond revocation

Reaves said she believed the jury would have returned a manslaughter conviction had it deliberated.

“We made the deal and I feel at peace,” she said.

Breunia Jennings was 23-years-old who her mother described as a “very smart child.” Standing beside Goodman, she praised how he handled the case as Reaves remembered her daughter.

“I miss her laughs, I miss her being here with me,” she recalled.

Townes, who at 31 has been in and out of trouble, escaped a possible life sentence and could serve only a few years before his parole.

“I think he is a changed person and will do good going forward,” Parker said.

However, Townes has a pending robbery charge related to his arrest by Dothan police this year while on bond but not wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor.

The pastor who gave Townes a ride to search for his car, Kenneth Glasgow, was cleared by grand jurors but is serving time on unrelated charges.

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