Posted: Jun. 3, 2009 4:10 p.m.
Updated: Jun. 3, 2009 4:10 p.m.

A hearing at the Wilson County Courthouse on June 2, 2009, brings another chapter in the case of the Brittany Willis murder to a close. The last remaining defendant, Julian Tyson Deans, entered an Alford plea and was found guilty of misdemeanor obstruction of justice. There are no more criminal charges left pending in the case.

Deans’ plea comes twenty six days shy of the fifth anniversary of Brittany’s kidnapping, rape, and murder. She was 17.

The controversy generated by the criminal charges in the case focused primarily on co-defendants, Kenneth Meeks and James Johnson, delaying the resolution of Deans’ charges.

Much has been written and reported about the murder and the criminal justice process that followed. Even though Deans’ plea brings that chapter to an end, Brittany’s family and friends still live with the tremendous sense of loss. For them, that chapter never ends.