Demetrius Glenn pleads guilty in Shorty Belton murder

SPOKANE, Wash. - Demetrius Glenn, the second suspect in the beating death of WWII veteran Delbert "Shorty" Belton, pleaded guilty Monday morning shortly before jury selection was set to begin for his first-degree murder charge.

Glenn agreed to the deal at the last minute Monday morning, shortly before 100 members of the community were to begin the selection process for the jury pool for Glenn's murder trial. The deal called for him to plead guilty to the murder charge; in return the robbery and conspiracy to commit first degree robbery charges against him were dropped. The sentence for his guilty plea was 16 years in prison.

Glenn, along with his onetime co-defendant, Kenan Adams-Kinard, were charged with the killing of Delbert Belton, 88, who was severely beaten outside the Eagles Ice Arena in August 2013. He succumbed to his injuries hours later at the hospital.

Glenn's attorney, Chris Phelps, said he wanted to take the case to trial; he thought he could show the jury that Glenn, 17, was only guilty of robbing Belton. Glenn, however, did not want to gamble with getting a longer sentence.

Glenn had previously been offered a plea deal with a 20-year sentence on the murder charge.

"They're going to ask the court sentence you to 16 years of imprisonment, credit for any time that you've already served on this, that they would dismiss the other charges," Judge Annette Plese said.

Prosecutors said in court that Glenn was not as culpable as Adams-Kinard in the murder and he deserved a lesser sentence. While Glenn turned himself into authorities after Belton's death, Adams-Kinard went on the run. When police finally caught up to him, Adams-Kinard had penned a letter in which he confessed to the killing.

Finally, Adams-Kinard pleaded guilty to killing Belton earlier this year and had already been sentenced to 20 years in prison last month. Glenn's trial had been pushed back until after Adams-Kinard was sentenced.

"The recommendation is proper, based on new case law in Miller, but also the facts in this case, this defendant is not in the same position as Mr. Kinard," Deputy Prosecutor Mark Cipolla said.

Glenn will be sentenced on March 19 at 1:30 p.m.