On June 7, 2007, 24-year old Joseph Lee Hamlet appeared in Lynchburg Circuit Court and pled guilty to six felonies. The defendant pled guilty to two counts of Robbery, one count of Abduction for Pecuniary Benefit, and to three counts of Using a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony. This case had been set to be tried before a jury on June 11, 2007.

The defendant will remain incarcerated with no bond pending his sentencing which has been set for September 21, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. At his sentencing, the defendant will be facing a sentencing range between 13 years to Life in prison.

Hamlet is the last of three co-defendants to have either pled guilty or have been found guilty for their roles in the June 11, 2006 murder of David Devin Poe. Co-defendant Carson Alfred Washington pled guilty to 12 felonies, including Capital Murder, and was sentenced to serve Life + 200 years in the penintentiary. Co-defendant Garlon Deshawn Cabler was found guilty by a jury of 11 felonies, including first-degree murder, and was sentenced to serve Life + 168 years in the penitentiary.

Hamlet's main role in this grizzly crime was holding an 8-year old boy captive in the basement of the house while Washington and Cabler were upstairs robbing the 8-year old boy's parents. Hamlet was also the person that gave the instruction to shoot just prior to Washington placing his loaded shotgun to the back of Poe's head and pulling the trigger. Hamlet was arrested five days after the murder hiding out in one of his girlfriend's residences.

This case was prosecuted by Deputy Commonwealth's Attorneys Chuck Felmlee and Jeff Bennett.