A prisoner who’s been incarcerated for 30 years for killing a southwest Missouri sheriff says he’s ready to be released.
50-year-old Brent Debler is serving a life sentence for second degree murder, for the July 1987 killing of Cedar County Sheriff Charles LaRew.
Current Cedar County Sheriff James “Jim Bob” McCrary made the three-hour drive to Jefferson City this week, to urge Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board to deny parole for Debler.
“I told them (the Parole Board) that I didn’t think any amount of rehabilitation was enough for what he did and that even if he was a model prisoner, that might be the case, and he’s where he belongs if that’s the case,” McCrary says.
Sheriff LaRew was shot in the head and killed by a .30 caliber rifle that discharged from a booby-trap device.
It happened in Caplinger Mills, just north of Stockton. Cedar County is about 55 miles northwest of Springfield.
Debler is currently incarcerated at the maximum-security Jefferson City Correctional Center (JCCC).
Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board held a parole hearing for Debler on Monday at JCCC.
Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) spokeswoman Karen Pojmann tells Missourinet it normally takes the Board six to eight weeks to make a decision.
“Hopefully they’ll (the Parole Board) make the right decision, which is to keep him there,” says McCrary.
McCrary describes Debler as dangerous, adding that he “is where he belongs.”
Sheriff McCrary says Debler told the Parole Board he is ready to be released from prison, and that he has a place to go.
LaRew was elected Cedar County Sheriff in 1984. He was 35, when he died.
Click here to listen to the full four-minute interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Cedar County Sheriff James “Jim Bob” McCrary, which was recorded on October 30, 2017:
