Curtis Banks, center, pleaded guilty to killing two Hattiesburg police officers last year. (Tim Doherty/Hattiesburg American via AP)
HATTIESBURG (AP) – A Hattiesburg man accused in the 2015 slayings of Hattiesburg Police Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate has pleaded guilty in Forrest County Circuit Court.
WDAM-TV reports 27-year-old Curtis Banks entered the plea Thursday to accessory after the fact of capital murder in connection to the May 9, 2015 murders.
Circuit Judge Bob Helfrich sentenced Curtis to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Banks had a pending 2013 sale of a controlled substance charge to which he pleaded guilty to as well and was sentenced to five years. District Attorney Patricia Burchell says the penalties will run at the same time.
Banks was accused of helping his brother, Marvin Banks, after the shootings, avoid arrest. Marvin Banks was the alleged triggerman in the officers’ deaths.