INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Rondell Reed, the 52-year-old man accused of shooting his sister’s boyfriend and escaping the Indian River County Jail will spend the rest of his life in prison, Judge Robert Pegg ruled Wednesday afternoon.
Reed was given two consecutive life sentences and a third to run concurrently. He is not eligible for parole or early release.
“I believe justice has been served,” said Steve Hammer, a friend and customer of James Malone, the man Reed is accused of shooting.
Laura Wild, another friend and customer, said Reed’s plea of no contest on all eight charges against him did the county and Malone’s family a favor, sparing the survivors the emotional toll of a trial and the taxpayers the expense.
Reed was led into the courtroom wearing a red jumpsuit, black hand-encompassing mitts, cuffs around his ankles and orange rubber sandals. He stood still throughout the hearing, looking forward.
He did not appear to acknowledge either Hammer or Wild when they addressed Judge Pegg during the sentencing and he, himself, did not address the court or those in the audience.
Outside the courtroom, Public Defender Alan Hunt said Reed never asked him to try to get a reduced sentence.
“He just wanted to get it over with,” Hunt said.
Hunt said Reed is lucid and understood what was happening. He added that Reed was expecting the court to give him two life sentences.
Judge Pegg sentenced Reed to two consecutive life sentences on a murder and armed burglary charge and a third concurrent life sentence on another armed burglary charge.
“It’s very sobering,” Hammer said of seeing Reed in the courtroom, face to face. Hammer added that he could not detect any sense of remorse from Reed and he described Reed’s eyes as being cold and dark. “It brings a closure.”
Wild read a letter from Malone’s step-daughter, Jessica Treves, to the court because Treves was unable to attend.
Treves described Malone as an “honest, caring and kind man” who helped strangers at a drop of a hat. He was wise and quiet, only speaking to communicate something deep – not idle chitchat.
“He was the man of the house, our protector,” Treves wrote, adding that the world “truly lost a great soul.”
Treves expressed in her letter to the court that she wanted Reed to have to explain why he killed Malone.
“I think we deserve an answer,” she wrote.
Reed had told investigators that he shot Malone in self-defense in April when he visited Malone at the automotive repair shop Malone operated off US 1 just south of Sebastian.
Assistant State Attorney Ryan Butler questioned Reed during the hearing Wednesday to ensure Reed understood what he was doing, pleading no contest to the murder charge, among others.
As with every question posed by Judge Pegg, Reed answered Butler’s questions with “Yes, sir” or “No, sir.”
Butler explained to Reed that by pleading no contest to the murder charge, and by not going through the discovery process leading up to a trial, Reed could miss out on information that could help his case.
He told Reed he “can’t complain about it later.”
Because Reed is a prison releasee re-offender, the court had to issue a mandatory life sentence on the murder charge, as well as the two armed burglary charges.
“I have no choice,” Judge Pegg said of the sentence he handed down to Reed.
Reed had been released from a Texas prison on July 3, 2009, and committed the crimes to which he pled no contest within three years, qualifying him for the prison releasee re-offender status.
Reed is expected to be transported to a correctional facility in Orlando before being transferred to a state penitentiary. When he will be transported was not immediately known.
Previous reports of Reed being sentenced to only two life terms in prison were incorrect.
