A parole hearing for Christopher Nicholas Orlando, 40, is scheduled for March 2013, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections. Orlando is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence after being convicted of facilitation of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Joshua Murphy in September of 2002.
Murphy was shot and killed on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2002 in a secluded area at the end of Old Eagle Creek Road in the Laurel Hill community. His body was found three days later. Officials suspected Murphy was stealing meth-amphetamine from Orlando and co-defendant Melvin Turnbill.
Turnbill pleaded guilty to facilitation of first-degree murder prior to the Orlando trial and agreed to testify for the state under terms of the plea agreement. Turnbill is incarcerated at the Southeastern Tennessee State Regional Corrections Facility in Pikeville and will be eligible for parol in April 2014.
Orlando received a jury trial and was convicted on June 23, 2004. In that trial, the court sentenced him, as a Range II multiple offender, to 40 years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections. Orlando made a motion for a new trial but was denied on April 18, 2005.
The trial court modified his sentence to reflect a term of 35 years, concluding that the imposed 40-year sentence was not appropriate. Orlando filed an appeal in August 2006, but the court of criminal appeals upheld the sentence.
He is incarcerated at the Northeast Correctional Complex in Mountain City.