One of the three original defendants in a 2014 Nevada County murder case has lost an appeal to have his plea agreement thrown out. Assistant District Attorney Cami Lisonbee says Nathan Philbrook had reached an agreement in 2018, which called for a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter and a stipulated sentence of five years in prison…

click to listen to Cami Lisonbee

The change in law no longer allows a defendant to be charged with murder, when that person didn’t directly commit the killing. But, at a recent hearing last month, Lisonbee says the judge found that Philbrook was still a major participant who acted with reckless indifference to human life and he must resume serving what’s now a 23-year sentence…

click to listen to Cami Lisonbee

Lisonbee says the agreement still also requires Philbrook to testify in the trial of the accused “triggerman” in the case, Finley Fultz. The next scheduled proceeding for Fultz is January 13th. Lisonbee hopes a trial date will be set at that time. The case against Fultz was dismissed in late 2018. But charges were recently reinstated against him, after the D-A’s office appealed. The third defendant, who also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, has died from cancer. The three were arrested in the shooting death of a marijuana caretaker.