Suspect pleads guilty in connection to Officers Deen and Tate shooting

HATTIESBURG, MS. - Another suspect in connection to the murders of two Hattiesburg Police Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate pleaded guilty in Forrest County Court Friday morning.

Cornelius Clark pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution. The judge sentenced Clark to 5 years, two years under house arrest and 3 years on post-release supervision.

Officials say Clark was in the back seat of the car during the May 2015 shooting when alleged trigger Marvin Banks shot and killed the two officers.

Three other suspects pleaded guilty in June of 2017. Douglas McPhail, 23, and Anquanette Alexander, 21, pleaded guilty to first-degree hindering prosecution and conspiracy. Broderick Varnado, 27, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of capital murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

-Varnado is sentenced to 20 years of prison

-McPhail is sentenced to to five years of prison

-Alexander's sentenced is deferred for five years, and is being supervised by the state department of corrections

Banks the alleged gunman was arrested soon after Deen and Tate's death. He was charged with two counts of capital murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, grand larceny, fleeing the scene.

He died in Forrest County Jail in December 2015 of an apparent heart disease according to officials.