De Lisle man to spend 20 years behind bars on second-degree murder and kidnapping charges

A De Lisle man pled guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping in Harrison County this week.

Twenty-seven-year-old Jerry Parkman was sentenced in the 2022 murder of 24-year-old Cody Smith. Parkman was sentenced to 40 years, with 20 years suspended, meaning he will serve 20 years in the custody of Mississippi Department of Corrections.

The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office received a missing person tip from the Byram Police Department that Smith was last seen in Harrison County in July 2022 with friends. Ten months after his murder and with the assistance of Parkman, Smith’s body was found in a wooded area of De Lisle.

Parkman told investigators that he, Angel Pierce, and a third person took Smith into the woods by gunpoint and killed him after an armed robbery involving Cody’s car.

Pierce was sentenced to life plus 30 for murder in this case last week.

After his release from prison, Parkman will be placed on five years of post-release supervision, ordered to pay a $2,000 fine, and restitution to Cody Smith’s parents for funeral expenses.