KENANSVILLE — A 21-year-old Rose Hill man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty Wednesday in the murders of a mentally-disabled Harrells resident and a Duplin County cab driver, killed months apart in 2007.

Brandon Sebastian Rice, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Jessie Faison Jr., 63, found dead in his cab on May 24, 2007, and Earl Jeffrey Newton, 31, shot to death in his Harrells home during a robbery around Labor Day, less than four months later.

Rice was sentenced by Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Allen Cobb Jr. to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The defendant pleaded guilty to both murders in Duplin County Superior Court after waiving venue in the Newton murder, a Sampson County case, and giving his consent to enter both pleas in Duplin.

District Attorney Dewey Hudson said Rice has agreed as part of the plea bargain to testify truthfully, if called upon, against any co-defendants in both murders.

There are still pending murder charges against Rochael Delisia Dobson, 19, of Wallace, Marquis D. Fleming, 19, of Rose Hill, Andre Romeriaz Pridgen, 18, of Ivanhoe, Christopher Smith Jr., 19, of Wallace, and a juvenile in Newton’s murder. Dobson, Anthony Darnell Kenan Jr., 19, of Teachey, and another juvenile stand charged in Faison’s killing.

Before Rice entered his guilty pleas, the state, represented by Chief Assistant District Attorney Ernie Lee and Assistant District Attorney Robert Roupe, detailed the findings of investigators in each of the murders.

Newton’s decomposing body was found inside his home at 6935 Wildcat Road by Sampson County Sheriff’s authorities conducting a welfare check Sept. 10, 2007. The check had been made in response to concerns from Newton’s family members, who had not heard from the man in some time.

Deputies found Newton, who suffered a mental disability and lived alone, dead from shotgun-inflicted wounds to the head and chest. Evidence showed his body had been in the home for several days. His mother had last seen him alive Sept. 3, a week earlier.

On Sept. 14, Sampson County Sheriff’s investigators received information about the possible involvement of several people in the murder, including Rice. The suspect, then 19, was interviewed by sheriff’s detectives and said he and others planned to rob Newton.

State prosecutors said Rice and others went to Newton’s trailer on Wildcat Road and, while attempting to rob the man, Newton was shot. Rice said the shots were fired by two others, but said he was in the residence during the murder and went back into the trailer afterward to steal money, clothes, shoes and a shotgun from Newton, prosecutors said.

A co-defendant, who allegedly remained outside during the murder, told law enforcement officers that Rice admitted after leaving the trailer that he was involved in the shooting, according to state’s evidence. Sheriff’s authorities also determined that someone purchased Newton’s stolen shotgun from Rice after the murder.

Rice was arrested on Sept. 18.

Duplin County Sheriff’s authorities and the State Bureau of Investigation probed the May 24 death of Faison for several months before receiving information from Sampson County Sheriff’s authorities about a possible link between the two killings.

Faison’s taxi was found the morning of May 24 on Cool Springs Road, near Kenansville. The well-known Faison was found behind the wheel of the cab, which he operated as part of Faison Taxi Service.

According to state’s evidence, pieces of a potato were found inside the taxi, “consistent with a potato being used as a silencer on a firearm.” An autopsy on Faison revealed he had been shot twice in the head.

During the investigation of the murder of Faison, it was determined that suspects in Newton’s murder may have been responsible for the cab driver’s death. State prosecutors said statements made in that case tied Rice to the Faison’s murder.

In a prepared statement Wednesday, Hudson noted that the latent palm prints of Rice were found in the taxi cab, along with the prints of another co-defendant. Rice made no statements to investigators about the murder of Faison.

Before Rice was sentenced, family members of Faison shared their feelings. Faison’s son said he forgave the 21-year-old; Faison’s sister said she did not. She wanted the death penalty for Rice, she said.

“I’m from Sampson County, and I don’t go to church,” she said. “I don’t forgive.”

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.