GLADSTONE, Mo. — A man accused of killing an AT&T employee should’ve been in prison according to past convictions. Police arrested 35-year-old Bryan Middlemas on Saturday night. Middlemas is no stranger to criminal courtrooms or police.
Court documents say a tip led to one of Middlemas’ former cell mates and the cell mate’s information pointed to Middlemas. He has been arrested several times and in and out of prison for the majority of the last decade.
In fact, if Middlemas had been required to serve his entire sentence from his last three convictions, he would still be in prison. According to court records, in 2007 Middlemas was sentenced to three years in prison for tampering with a motor vehicle. The Department of Corrections tells FOX 4 Middlemas only served 40 percent of that sentence before he was granted parole.
Less than a year after being released from prison, Middlemas was charged with possession of marijuana and sentenced to two years. In 2009, he was again convicted of tampering with a motor vehicle and sentenced to six years in prison. That would’ve put him in prison until 2015.
Despite Middlemas’ criminal record, according to the Department of Corrections, he was only required to serve 50 percent of the last six-year sentence. Middlemas was again released from prison in August. Now, a month later he is being charged with First Degree Murder in the death of Kevin Mashburn.
Mashburn was found beaten and unresponsive in his work truck where he was fixing a cell phone tower. According to court documents, Middlemas tried to rob Mashburn and killed him when he wouldn’t give up his wallet.
