BELMONT, N.C. — The family of a Belmont man is experiencing relief after the suspect in his case was not offered a plea deal.
Last March, police said D’Shaun Robinson admitted he and Andy Tench went to a bar and then back to a hotel.
At some point, Robinson found Tench unresponsive. He later admitted to police that he dumped Tench’s body in a dumpster.
On Tuesday, Tench’s family presented a judge with a petition with thousands of signatures and asked him not to accept a plea deal.
The judge chose to take no action. Then the assistant district attorney said the state was withdrawing that plea agreement.
This was the second time prosecutors tried to get a judge to accept a deal that would allow Robinson to plead guilty to concealing a death and identity theft and receive up to 17 months in prison.
However, Tench’s body has never been found, and his family wants Robinson to face a harsher punishment.
“The dumpster at Country Inn Suites. We don’t even know if there was a cadaver dog over there. We’re just going off of, ‘Andy got put in a dumpster. Andy got dumped into a landfill. You guys just need to accept.’ Which we’re not doing, because it just doesn’t seem right,” said family friend Christian Eidson.
Channel 9 has reached out to the District Attorney’s Office for a comment on this case.
They said since this remains a pending case, they are ethically prohibited from commenting.
VIDEO: CMPD won’t search landfill for missing Belmont man; family not giving up
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