GRANITE FALLS, N.C. — Court officials say Eric Yount, 27, was sentenced to 50 to 62 years in prison on Wednesday for his involvement in a double homicide the happened nearly five years ago.
Eric Yount
Detectives say on March 2nd, 2016 both 22-year-old Richelle Lail and 28-year-old Cody Watts were shot and killed in the parking lot of a McDonalds in Hickory, North Carolina, just a month after Yount and Lail ended a domestic relationship.
Nathaniel J. Poovey, Superior Court Judge from Catawba County, sentenced Yount after he plead guilty to two counts of second degree murder.
“I wish I had some words of wisdom to impart to you all to make it better. There is nothing this court can do to bring these beautiful children back,” Judge Poovey said, adding that his hope was that all families involved could find closure and peace without living life with bitterness and anger. “There will always be a hole there, a scar on the heart that will never fully heal.”
Police say Yount will serve his prison time in the custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections, and Assistant District Attorney Lance Sigmon says the severity of Yount’s actions explain his sentencing in the double murder.
“He showed a reckless disregard for the lives of others,” Sigmon said. “We need to protect the public from someone like him. This court can send a message that we value human life, and violence is not the answer.”
Detectives say evidence revealed Yount texted a friend the day before the fatal shootings and told him he would not be at work the next day and would be going to jail.
Yount’s Defense Attorney Vicki Jayne argued he was not of sound mind when the shootings occurred since he lost his job, was using opioids, and just lost his girlfriend.
“It was a split-second decision, a horrible decision that Eric made,” Jayne said. “He realizes the loss and despair he has caused three families, including his own. He absolutely accepts
responsibility. What he wants you (the Lail and Watts families) to know is how sorry he is. He can’t make up for the pain he has caused everyone.”
Detectives say the victims were talking to each other in the McDonald’s parking lot on March 2nd, 2016 when Yount pulled up blocking Watt’s truck, and an argument between Yount and Lail ensued.
During the argument, Yount pulled a handgun from his car and shot Lail in the head, who later died at the scene according to investigators.
Detectives say Yount then turned the gun on Watts, firing several shots that hit Watts in the neck and chest while he was still in his car.
Watt’s 10-year-old son was seated in the truck beside his father during the shooting but suffered no injuries, according to a news release.
Police say Yount left the scene and abandoned his car in a school parking lot between two busses, then went to a car lot and stole a truck before turning himself in to the Lenoir Police Department later that night.
Investigators say evidence revealed Yount called his father to confess he had just killed Lail and Watts.
Investigators with the Hickory Police Department say they located a 9-millimeter handgun that Yount has taken to a friend’s house following the shootings, and his DNA was found on it.
Members from both of the families addressed the court on Wednesday.
“She was the light of my life, my pride and joy, and this young man took her from me,” Lail’s father Richard said. “We’ll never have closure. There is no justice for what he did; it just can’t be made right.”
Stephen Watts also spoke about his younger brother who died in the shooting.
Stephen Watts said “He would help anybody and everybody. This was a young man who didn’t deserve to lose his life over a girlfriend. It was senseless. He was full of life, and now he has none. He is missed tremendously. We need this behind us. We need to move on.”
The Hickory Police Department investigated this case, and Lance Sigmon and Jamie Adams handled the prosecution for the District Attorney’s Office.
