OLNEY, IL — Another defendant in the Richland County shooting death of Kyle Johnson of Olney has pleaded guilty. 33-year-old Dale Boatman, Jr. of Olney pleaded guilty to a reduced charge Tuesday in exchange for a 15-year prison term. Boatman will serve three years mandatory supervised release once out of prison.

19-year-old Rick Meador, of Olney, earlier pleaded guilty to murder in Johnson’s death. He and his then 16-year-old girlfriend allegedly fled Olney after the shooting and went to Mt. Vernon where their abandoned vehicle was later located. Meador is to be sentenced on January 27. Meador was charged with charged with shooting Johnson, while Boatman, the 16-year-old girlfriend and her mother Tara Haws, are charged with being accomplices in the shooting, which occurred on a city street in Olney in September of 2020. Meador, Boatman and Haws were initially expected to join their cases; however, court records indicate the belief the possibility of antagonistic defenses between the three defendants. Boatman reportedly asserted that he would accuse the others of committing the crimes while asserting his innocence.

A Mt. Vernon woman, Misty Whipple, is also being charged with allegedly providing them a rental vehicle to then flee to Florida where they were arrested