A St. Louis man was sentenced to two life terms for his part in the robbery and murder of St. Charles, Mo., insurance agent in 2007.
Before being sentenced, 33-year-old Cleo S. Hines testified that he was forced to drive his roommate to the office of 48-year-old Robert Eidman. The insurance agent was shot three times.
Hines pleaded guilty on Aug. 24 in St. Charles County Court to charges of robbery and second-degree murder.
Hines entered an Alford plea to murder and robbery charges. He says his roommate at the time, Paul White, held him at gunpoint to drive and he waited in the car while White was inside Eidman’s office. He says he didn’t know Eidman was killed until seeing it on the news days later.
In early August, a jury deliberated less than three hours before finding White guilty of first-degree murder.
DNA evidence linked White to the 2007 shooting of Eidman inside the victim’s insurance office.
The jury heard audiotapes of White telling police he planned to rob Eidman the day after he lost $1,200 at a casino. But White insisted it was an accomplice — his former roommate — who shot and killed Eidman after they were unable to open a drawer where the insurance agent had kept some cash.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that White has already been sentenced to two life terms.
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