GALLIPOLIS — A Gallipolis man sentenced to prison for a 2008 burglary was recently granted judicial release in the Common Pleas Court of Gallia County as per a plea agreement.

Shane J. Tackett, 38, was given four years of community control and was ordered to pay $17,500 in restitution to the victim after he was released from prison last Wednesday during a hearing in the common pleas court.

Tackett had spent over 26 months in the Chillicothe Correctional Institution after pleading guilty to a third-degree-felony burglary charge in 2010.

The defendant was indicted after breaking into a Gallia County residence on December 19, 2008, and initially pleaded not guilty to the charge on March 3, 2009.

A negotiated plea agreement was later filed with the court along with an entry signed by a victim’s representative agreeing with the proposed plea.

The plea stipulated that the defendant would be sentenced to a total of four years of incarceration with the Gallia County Prosecutor’s Office recommending judicial release after two years of the four year sentence had been served.

Tackett later failed to appear for a plea hearing in the common pleas court and a warrant was issued for his arrest on September 18, 2009.

The next entry in Tackett’s file, dated May 27, 2009, and signed by the the warden of the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, states that the defendant had been imprisoned in the facility for approximately 140 days of a one-year sentence for the possession of drugs.

Tackett had been sentenced in the Ross County, Ohio Common Pleas Court to one year of imprisonment in January 2010 after pleading guilty to the possession of cocaine. His operator’s license was also suspended for a period of 10 months through the Ross County case.

A journal entry was later filed in Tackett’s Gallia County case stipulating that a new negotiated plea be filed with the court by August 30, 2010. This date was later continued to September 2010, when a guilty plea was entered by the defendant.

Tackett was later sentenced to four years in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for burglary. He was given credit for 21 days credit for time served.

The first motion for judicial release was filed in this case on September 22, 2011, by the defendant.

A entry filed by Gallia County Prosecutor Jeff Adkins outlines the state’s opposition to the defendant’s early release from prison, “As part of the Defendant’s plea agreement, the State agreed to recommend a motion for judicial release after the Defendant has served two (2) years of incarceration. The Defendant has served approximately 12 months of his sentence, and any lesser sentence would demean the seriousness of the offense.”

This motion for judicial release was overruled by Common Pleas Judge D. Dean Evans on September 29, 2011.

Similarly, a second motion for judicial release was filed in this case on July 18, 2012, and was overruled by the court.

A motion filed on September 4, 2012, for the defendant’s judicial release was recommended by the state as he had served approximately 23 months of his four year sentence. However, this motion was also overruled by the court.

A final motion for judicial release was filed by the defendant on October 11, 2012, and was subsequently granted by the court during a hearing on November 21.

During the hearing last week, Tackett’s prison term was suspended and he was ordered to report for 48 months of probation. He was given credit for two years, two months and 11 days served.

He was further ordered to have no contact with the victim or the victim’s family in this case.