A 50-year-old man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and cocaine trafficking in two separate cases, according to First Circuit Court District Attorney Jason Herring.
Don C. Gilleylen was set to stand trial Sept. 29 in Monroe County on an aggravated trafficking charge. After a jury was selected, Gilleylen changed his plea and pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine.
Senior Circuit Court Judge Paul S. Funderburk sentenced Gilleylen to 10 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with an additional 20 years suspended and five years of post-release supervision.
The trafficking case stemmed from a checkpoint conducted by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. The North Mississippi Narcotics Unit investigated the case.
In a separate Lee County case, Gilleylen also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Oct. 15, 2021, killing of Lucious A. Freeman.That case had been scheduled for trial in November.
Funderburk sentenced Gilleylen to 20 years in MDOC custody on the manslaughter charge, the maximum sentence for that offense, according to the district attorney’s office.
The Tupelo Police Department investigated the manslaughter case.
As part of the plea agreement, the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
Assistant district attorneys Paul Gault and Nebra Porter prosecuted the trafficking case. Sadie Gardner and Gault prosecuted the manslaughter case.
