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October 12, 2009

Poynor man sentenced to 20 years

By Rich Flowers News Editor

A Poynor man was sentenced to 20 years in prison last week after pleading to a lesser charge in a capital murder case, according to information from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office.

Joshua Blake Berryhill, 27, entered a guilty plea to robbery, a second-degree felony. He could be eligible for parole after serving five years of the sentence.

Berryville will get credit for the two years he has spent in jail since his arrest in October, 2007.

Berryhill was one of four defendants indicted for capital murder in connection with the incident from Sept. 27, 2007, shooting and killing of 52-year-old Gregory Willkomm of Magnolia.

Two of the defendants, James Stallings and Kasey Erin Kantak, of the Houston area, were each convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to life in prison earlier this year.

On Sept. 24, Joshua Tarrant, 27, of Frankston was acquitted on a capital murder charge. Berryhill testified for the state in each of the trials.

According to various police reports, Willkomm disappeared from his home Sept. 28, and was later found dead in Harris County.

Law enforcement officers in several counties participated in arresting eight suspects in connection with the case. Berryhill was arrested on a murder warrant by Coffee City Police about two weeks after the killing. He was booked into the Henderson County Jail with bond set at $750,000.

According to a published story in the Palestine Herald, testimony introduced at Tarrant’s trial showed that Willkomm died as a result of a single shot to the back of the neck from a .25-caliber automatic pistol.

Testimony at the trial revealed that Stallings fired the shot that killed Willkomm.

The victim’s burned body was found two days later by authorities next to the San Jacinto River in Harris County, about 20 miles from the murder site.

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