PA. man pleads guilty in rear naked choke death

A York County man was ordered to stand trial Wednesday on charges he murdered his friend after a night of drinking.

Ryan Shiflett, 18, of Shrewsbury Township, appeared at his preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Walter Reamer, who found enough evidence to forward the case to county court.

Shiflett is accused of strangling 19-year-old Eric Cook of New Freedom at Shiflett’s home on April 25.

According to court papers, the two had been drinking vodka and got into a fight. Shiflett placed Cook in a “sleeper hold” and held him there until he “stopped wiggling,” according to the papers.

Police said Shiflett then used a garden cart to move Cook’s body. The body was found the next morning in the 3700 block of Steltz Road, not far from Shiflett’s home.

—

Guilty plea in ‘sleeper hold’ murder

Prosecution and defense reach agreement on third-degree murder for Ryan R. Shiflett

Virginia Martin cried in court Friday as she spoke of how much she still misses her grandson.

The young man who killed him, Ryan Randolph Shiflett, did not react to her words, did not look in her direction or offer any apology.

Shiflett pleaded guilty Friday to third-degree murder for the “sleeper hold” strangulation of his friend and Martin’s grandson, Eric Cook.

Cook’s body was found along Route 851 in Shrewsbury Township in the early-morning hours of April 25, 2008.

Shiflett, 19, of the 3600 block of Steltz Road, admitted choking Cook, 19, with a wrestling move during a night of drinking and drugs behind Shiflett’s home, according to police.

Shiflett’s family had maintained the death was accidental.

In June, Judge Penny L. Blackwell denied a defense request to suppress from trial statements Shiflett made to police.

Friday, Blackwell accepted the negotiated plea and sentenced Shiflett to six to 12 years in state prison, five years probation and a drug and alcohol evaluation. Charges of first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter were dismissed in the plea agreement.

Senior prosecutor Karen Comery, of the York County District Attorney’s Office, said the plea arrangement was reached because of fears on both sides.

She said the case came down to medical testimony and the commonwealth was concerned Shiflett could be convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to time served. Shiflett had been held without bail since his arrest the day Cook’s body was found.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Shiflett would have received a mandatory sentenced of life in prison without parole.

“I’m speculating they (the defense) did not want to take that chance,” she said.

Comery said the prosecution medical expert was prepared to testify that Cook died as a result of an obstructed airway and had a fractured hyoid bone in his throat, which is consistent with strangulation.

She said defense’s medical expert was expected to testify Cook died from airway compression.

The guilty plea came as jury selection was set to begin for trial.