The Georgia man who murdered three people at a ritzy golf course in 2021 struck a plea deal with prosecutors on Friday, saving him from potentially being sentenced to death in a trial that was slated to commence this year.
Bryan Rhoden , 25, pleaded guilty to 17 felony charges, which included counts of murder, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. He will now spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole.
“The families and the state have agreed to accept the plea deal from Mr. Rhoden in exchange for withdrawing our request for the death penalty,” Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone call. “He’s pleaded guilty to the entire indictment.”
The slaying of Paul Pierson, Henry Valdez, and Gene Siller rocked the community at the Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw, Georgia, an exurb of Atlanta .
Pierson, 76, and Valdez, 46, had their hands, legs, and mouths bound when police discovered their bodies dumped in the bed of a pickup truck that was parked near the 10th hole at the golf course. The body of Siller, a 46-year-old golf pro at the club, was also found near the truck. He’d been shot in the head.