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lious Timmons.”

"Mr. Timmons was at his home,” Mr. Luke continued. "He was armed at the time he was shot. He had a loaded shotgun when he leaned around the side of the house and was shot by the defendant.”

Mr. Luke added that he had given the matter "great consideration” before entering into the plea agreement. He said that he had weighed the results of lab tests, the autopsy report, the feelings of the victim’s family, the defendant’s prior record, "and the defendant’s statement in this volume” - showing the court a nearly one-inch thick loose-leaf notebook which contained a transcript of Brown’s statement, made to Trooper H. A. Newlin, the investigating officer, following his arrest.

In his favor, Mr. Luke noted, "the defendant turned himself in and made a full confession . . . avoiding the cost of a trial and the trauma to the victim’s family.”

Because of several felonies Brown committed years ago, Mr. Luke concluded, the plea agreement was constructed "so that the defendant would not be eligible for parole at the same time as a first offender.”

Brown’s attorneys, John G. Berry and Jeff Early, declined to make a statement prior to sentencing.

Displaying no emotion, his eyes fixed on the table in front of him, Brown rose to stand beside his attorneys to hear his sentence pronounced. Asked by Judge W. Shore Robertson if he wished to make a statement, Brown replied quietly but firmly, “No.”

Judge Robertson said that he concurred with the Common- i wealth’s recommendation for | sentencing, contained in the plea agreement, and sentenced Brown to 13 years in the state penitentiary on the murder charge, followed by a two-year sentence on the firearms charge.

“It is the court’s hope,” Judge Robertson added, "that you will serve your time well and come back and make yourself a useful member of the community. That is, of course, up to you.”