A Radford man acquitted by a jury of capital murder last year pleaded guilty this morning to a robbery charge connected to the case and an unrelated drug charge.

James Reginald Jones II, 25, entered his pleas in Radford Circuit Court, more than a year after jurors found him guilty of robbery but were unable to agree on a recommended sentence and forcing Radford Circuit Court Judge Joey Showalter to declare a mistrial.

Jones, who has been held without bond since his arrest three years ago, also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. He was ordered this morning to serve five years of a 30-year sentence.

“The plea became a government option only after the 2008 murder trial ended on a fluke much to the defendant’s benefit," Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Rehak said in a news release. “The commonwealth was disappointed to find the remedy for this unusual situation required a mistrial rather than a new sentencing jury.  Ironically an error during sentencing would allow the convictions to stand and a new jury set punishment, but a deadlocked sentencing jury requires the entire trial be done all over again.”

The case began July 5, 2006, after a neighbor called 911 at 7:16 p.m. after seeing Ken Henry bleeding and yelling for help in the parking lot of the Davis Street apartment Jones shared with his girlfriend, Kelly Brubeck, who at the time went by the name Kelly McKenzie Lance

According to testimony at Jones' two-week trial, which started Aug. 19, 1008, Brubeck at first told several people, including police, a neighbor and her mother, that she shot Henry after he tried to rob her at gunpoint. She later told police that Jones had shot Henry.

At trial, Brubeck testified that she and Jones set up a drug deal with Henry to get him to the apartment. They planned to rob him, she said, but the killing was never planned.

She said she watched as Jones shot Henry.

Jones told jurors he saw Brubeck shoot Henry during an argument. He also lied to police at first, saying he had slept through the whole incident and awoke only after Brubeck screamed. He testified that he lied because he didn't want to be the one to eventually put Brubeck behind bars.

After meeting behind a closed door for about 12 hours over three days, the jury announced that its members unanimously found Jones was not guilty of capital murder and use of a firearm in capital murder.

The jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery, using a firearm in the commission of robbery, and robbery -- a crime punishable by as few as five years in prison or as much as life. It was that wide sentencing range that brought the jury of eight women and four men to a stalemate.

Brubeck is charged with second-degree murder in the case, which is still pending in court.