Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 1, 1994 TAG: 9404010198
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Lawrence Tolbert Joshlin received a 26-year sentence for two first-degree murder convictions in the deaths of James and Evelyn Merritt as part of a plea agreement reached in Martinsville Circuit Court.
Johnny Mosier, also of Memphis, is scheduled to be sentenced today. He is expected to receive 30 years on two second-degree murder convictions. Although Mosier wasn't responsible for the couple's deaths, he will receive a stiffer sentence because he has a more extensive record than Joshlin, said Randolph Smith, Martinsville commonwealth's attorney.
Mosier recently confessed that Joshlin disguised himself as a flower deliveryman and diverted Evelyn Merritt's attention while Mosier went upstairs, Smith said.
Once upstairs, Mosier ransacked rooms and bound James Merritt with duct tape.
After dragging James Merritt downstairs, Joshlin tied the couple together with tape while Mosier continued to ransack the house.
The Merritts, their mouths covered with duct tape, died of asphyxiation and dehydration.
Although Mosier confessed, Smith accepted the plea agreement because the case still was weak.
"Even with Mosier's testimony, all of your witnesses against him are convicted felons," Smith said.
Also, Smith said, the deaths were ruled accidental, not intentional.
"They went to commit a robbery," he said. "Neither one has a record for violent crime."
One of the convicts who may have testified had the cases gone to trial was Kammy Broadway McCollum.
According to Smith, McCollum's husband, Billy, had been a partner in other flim-flam schemes with Joshlin and Mosier, and might have been with them in Martinsville had he not become sick.
Apparently, Joshlin and Mosier told the McCollums what happened at the Merritt home, and Kammy McCollum passed on the tip to authorities at the Mississippi prison where she was being detained, Smith said.
However, she said the crime happened in Charlotte, N.C., not Martinsville. So when her story didn't match any cases in North Carolina, authorities dismissed it as a feeble attempt to receive less prison time, Smith said.
As it turned out, Joshlin and Mosier originally had planned to con a family in Charlotte, where they had gone before. But when they arrived at the Charlotte house, it had been painted and a different car was parked in the driveway.
So they headed to Martinsville, where they previously had conned the Merritts out of $6,000 for bogus home improvement services.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***