A Pike County man was given the maximum sentence in a deadly hit and run accident case.

Pike Circuit Judge Eddy Coleman sentenced 28-year-old Jerry Shields to a maximum sentence of five years in prison in the 2017 hit and run case against Shields. 72-year-old Paul “Chico” Newsome died in May 2017 from injuries suffered in the hit-and-run crash at Virgie.

Shields has been mostly in custody since November 2017. He fled the scene of the accident that killed Newsome, and left the state, before returning to Pike County and eventually being arrested.

A plea deal was offered that would have seen Shields sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on a felony hit and run charge, but Judge Coleman rejected the recommended sentence.

On Wednesday, much to the satisfaction of Newsome’s family, and seemingly to the shock of Shields, who stuck by his guilty plea, a maximum allowed sentence was handed down. Shields lurched forward in shock after Coleman handed down the sentence. As he exited the courtroom, he looked back at family members, before looking at Newsome’s family several times on his way out of the courtroom.

Newsome’s family said they wish Shields would have received a longer sentence, but given the five-year sentence was the maximum allowed by law, they were happy with Coleman’s decision.

Shields was remanded to the custody of Pike County Detention Center.

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