BELL PLEADS GUILTY TO
MURDER, AVOIDS TRIAL

By Jon Mayhew

LINCOLNTON -- A murder trial of a Lincolnton man was over before it ever
really got started, thanks to the defendant in the case entering a guilty plea
Monday afternoon.

Garland Jamar Bell plead guilty in the shooting death of 20-year-old
Rigoberto Ochoa in March 2005.

The shooting occurred in the home Bell and Ochoa shared with Anthony
Lynn Jones on Asbury Church Road. Ochoa was shot in the back of the
neck by Bell, wrapped in a blanket and placed in the trunk of his own
vehicle.

Bell then drove the vehicle to western Lincoln County and rolled the car
into a creek near Bill Sain Road.

Jones then picked Bell up and drove back to their residence, authorities
said. Investigators charged Jones with being an accessory after the fact.
Bell, who also faces unrelated charges of breaking and entering, larceny
and possession of stolen goods, has been held at the Harven A. Crouse
Detention Center since 2005 on a $5,000 secured bond.

Presiding judge John G. Caudill sentenced Bell to serve 219 to 272 months
at Central Prison in Raleigh.

Sheriff Tim Daugherty said Bell's incarceration in the Lincoln County Jail
has been one of the longer stays by a murder suspect.

"He's been waiting for his day in court for over three years," said
Daugherty Monday upon hearing the news of the guilty plea.