A man whose murder conviction and life prison sentence were overturned on jurisdictional grounds pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to the same 2008 murder in a plea deal that will net him 18 more years behind bars.
Jimmy Glenn Hendrix, 42, admitted to fatally shooting Jerrod Young, 26, in 2008 after his state conviction and sentence were overturned in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 McGirt decision.
Specifically, Hendrix pleaded guilty to one count of causing death by use of a firearm while committing second-degree murder in Indian Country.
His sentencing in Tulsa federal court is scheduled for Oct. 26, when a judge will decide whether to accept the plea agreement.
Under that agreement, in addition to the prison term, Hendrix would also serve five years of post-custody supervision by the U.S. Probation Office.
A federal grand jury on May 3 indicted Hendrix on one count of knowingly using a firearm during a crime of violence in Indian Country that resulted in Young’s death.
An affidavit submitted in support of an arrest warrant for Hendrix indicates that Young was found March 11, 2008, on the ground at the Brandywine apartment complex in the 4000 block of South 130th East Avenue.
Witnesses reported that Hendrix was one of four people talking to Young shortly before he was shot.
Hendrix was later seen standing over Young, pointing a black semi-automatic handgun at him before threatening others not to tell anyone about the shooting. Prosecutors at the time said the shooting stemmed from “a drug deal gone bad.”
The arrest warrant was issued after Tulsa County District Judge Tracy Priddy vacated Hendrix’s state murder conviction and life sentence, citing the McGirt ruling, according to court records.
Hendrix had challenged his state conviction after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last July that a Muscogee Nation citizen could not be prosecuted by the state of Oklahoma because Congress never disestablished the tribe’s reservation, which includes most of the city of Tulsa.
A Tulsa County District Court jury had convicted Hendrix in November 2008 of first-degree murder and possessing a firearm as a felon. He received a life sentence on the murder count and a 30-year prison sentence for the gun charge.
A life term in state prison is calculated as 45 years. By law, Hendrix would have had to serve 85% of that time, more than 38 years, before being eligible for release or parole.
Parole is abolished in the federal prison system.
Hendrix has served about 13 years in state prison on his murder conviction.
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