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Man Who Shot, Killed Sebastian County Deputy Pleads Guilty To All Charges

SEBASTIAN COUNTY (KFSM) – The man who shot and killed Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Bill Cooper pleaded guilty Tuesday (Nov. 29) and a judge accepted...

SEBASTIAN COUNTY (KFSM) – The man who shot and killed Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Bill Cooper pleaded guilty Tuesday (Nov. 29) and a judge accepted the plea.

Billy Monroe Jones, 35, will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Sebastian County prosecutor had been seeking the death penalty in the case. The plea deal eliminated the possibility of a death sentence.

Jones pleaded guilty to capital murder and 10 counts of attempted capital murder, as well as charges of felon in possession of a firearm, killing or injuring animals used by law enforcement and habitual crime.

Cooper was killed Aug. 10 when Jones started shooting at officers from outside a home on Highway 253 in Greenwood. The Hackett police chief was grazed by a bullet while responding to the same call and Greenwood’s K-9 Kina was injured in the gunfire as well. Jones was taken into custody after an hours-long standoff.

The Sebastian County prosecutor Dan Shue said he met with Deputy Cooper's wife and the police officers who were there the day he was shot. The officers who Jones pleaded guilty to attempted capital murder along with Cooper's wife agreed to offer the plea deal, according to Shue.

"There was no disunity. Everybody in one voice said if this is what Mrs. Cooper wants, this is what we want," Shue said.

Before the judge accepted Jones guilty plea, a few of the officers who were there that day took the stand and spoke directly to Jones.

Barling police officer Keith Lindley said to Jones, "You took the best of us that day, Billy Monroe Jones."

" I want to let you know about the person you murdered," said Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck. "You took one of the Sebastian County's greatest assets."

Hackett Police Chief Darrell Spells, who was also grazed by a bullet that day, told Jones, " Should your family ever need help, it will come from us."

When Jones was asked if he had anything he wanted to say, he said, "I can't say sorry enough times."

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