Murder defendant pleads to lesser charges

A man accused of taking part in a 2014 double murder in Millsboro has pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree robbery and second-degree conspiracy.

Carlton Gibbs, 42, was given credit for three years in prison already served and will serve the remainder of his sentence on probation.

Prosecutors say Gibbs was part of a group of men led by Steven Kellam, 36, who robbed and killed Cletis Nelson and William Hopkins in a trailer home off Harmons Hill Road in January 2014. Gibbs was charged with first-degree murder for his involvement in the murders along with Kellam, Richard Robinson, Damon Bethea, Rhamir Waples and Shamir Stratton.

At the trials of Waples and Bethea, prosecutors said Gibbs was friends with Kellam, and took part in planning the robbery of Nelson and Hopkins. Gibbs had been at a Long Neck hotel with Rachel Rentoul and Jackie Heverin when Rentoul, who was buying heroin from Nelson, informed the group that there was drugs and cash at Nelson’s house. Prosecutors said at the trials that Gibbs had driven Kellam around the night of the killings, although he was not alleged to have entered the home.

Gibbs was the third of the six to plead to lesser charges along with Stratton and Robinson, who testified at the trials of Waples and Bethea. Waples was convicted of 21 charges including two counts of first-degree murder and faces up to life in prison. Bethea, who prosecutors argued was one of the triggermen along with Robinson and Waples, was found not guilty. Kellam is scheduled for trial in September.