Final homicide case defendant spared prison term

A plea of guilty to a reduced charge ended the case today of a Walhalla homicide more than three years ago. Andy Steve Cobb was originally charged with accessory after the fact, but this afternoon was allowed to plead guilty to common law obstruction of justice. Cobb was 18 years old when Jeremy Lee Little was stabbed to death with a dagger-type knife, according to trial testimony last year. The jury in the case found co-defendant Kenneth Strother Collins guilty of murder, kidnapping, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Collins drew a sentence of 50 years in prison. As explained by Deputy Solicitor Lindsey Simmons, Cobb hid from the police in the attic at the murder scene. And his failure, Simmons told Judge Sprouse, was not telling the police right away what had happened. But Cobb proved to be a cooperative defendant. Simmons said Cobb fully cooperated and testified against co-defendant Collins during the October 2017 trial. Sprouse accepted the prosecution’s recommendation of a sentence of up to six years under the Youthful Offender’s Act, suspended to two years probation. Conditions of the sentence are random drug and alcohol testing and a directive that Cobb pursues the equivalent of a high school diploma. The defendant’s lawyer said his client had a minor role in what happened to 27-year old Little.