LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
PARIS—After 19 long months, Tyler Poole, the Ohio man charged with the first-degree murder of Paris resident Charles “CK” Nay, entered a new guilty/mentally ill plea on Thursday, Feb. 13. The guilty plea is a result of a plea agreement offered by the state.
Poole will serve 27 years in an Illinois Department of Corrections facility, with a 575-day credit for time served. Due to the nature of the crime and the classification of the felony, Poole is ineligible for parole and will serve the complete sentence in a penitentiary. Following his 27-year incarceration, he will also be placed under a mandatory three-year supervised release.
Under the plea agreement, Poole’s additional charges of public indecency and criminal trespassing, as cited in case 23CM93, were dismissed.
The victim’s sister was in the courtroom for the pre-trial hearing, just as she had been for the previous 11 court dates. While she chose not to directly address the court or defendant, they were informed that she approved the proposed plea agreement.
Special prosecutor Michael Havera explained to the court that the state had multiple pieces of video footage from the July incident clearly identifying the defendant, including surveillance from Circle K of Poole striking Nay and Nay subsequently falling to the ground.
The state also shared it had numerous law enforcement witnesses, eyewitnesses and multiple recorded instances of the Poole admitting to “striking the victim.”
In the times Poole admitted to striking the victim, the state repeatedly mentioned Poole’s admission of lack of intent to cause death but reminded the court that Poole’s actions ultimately led to Nay’s demise.
Within the same recordings of admission, Poole made bizarre claims as to why he attacked Nay, which included a statement claiming Nay was a “black man that had bleached his skin like Michael Jackson” and that Nay was a “famous social media influencer that has tattoos, but on the night of the attack he had covered them up.”
In January, Poole was diagnosed with acute stress disorder and schizophrenia. The diagnosis came more than a year after an Edgar County judge ordered a fitness evaluation for the defendant.
When explaining the plea agreement's terms, Judge Matthew Sullivan persistently ensured Poole understood. When asked if he understood the terms and conditions of his guilty plea and the sentencing that would follow, Poole stated, “I wish they would go lower, but I understand.”
In his official guilty plea, Poole made a statement to the court.
“I was on drugs. I didn’t know who I was hitting. I wish it hadn’t happened,” he said.
The Illinois State Police first took Poole into custody on July 21, 2023, following a battery incident on July 20, in front of Tiger Senior Apartments. The incident resulted in the death of Paris resident Nay on July 22, 2023, at Carle Hospital in Urbana.
Initially, Poole faced a single charge of aggravated battery. Poole was brought before Judge David W. Lewis on Monday, July 24, 2023, and at that time, he was charged with first-degree murder, a Class M felony. Edgar County Public Defender Nathaniel Harsy was assigned to the case, and bond was set at $500,000, with 10 percent to apply.
The defendant’s first preliminary hearing was scheduled for Aug. 7, 2023, but a fitness exam for Poole was ordered during an Aug. 4, 2023, court appearance.
Poole’s preliminary hearing was rescheduled three times as the court waited for the results of his fitness evaluation. In October 2024, a new doctor was assigned to Poole’s case, as the previous physician stated they would not provide evaluations in murder cases.
Eventually, during a court appearance on Nov. 6, 2023, Harsy filed the results of the evaluation he received that morning with the Edgar County court, and a fitness hearing was scheduled for Nov. 13, 2023.
After reviewing a fitness evaluation from Dr. Jeckel of the Illinois Department of Human Services at the hearing, Judge Sullivan announced that Poole had been found “unfit to stand trial.”
“The only evidence presented today is found in the doctor’s opinion, and the doctor qualifies as an expert in this scenario,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan ordered Poole to remain in the custody of the Edgar County Jail until he could be transported to the Illinois Department of Human Services to undergo fitness restoration treatment.
Nearly six months later, on Monday, May 6, 2024, Harsy, special prosecutor Havera and Judge David Lewis were all present in court and noted Poole’s “report process is not complete” due to the delayed transferring. The delays were attributed to a “lack of beds in medical facilities.”
On Aug. 19, 2024, Lewis shared that Poole was still unfit for trial based on his IDHS supervisor’s most recent report.
“I am finding that he (Poole) is not fit but still may be made fit within 12 months,” Lewis said.
On Jan. 17, 2025, Poole appeared at the Edgar County Courthouse with a report from the Department of Human Services indicating he has been “returned to fitness.”
During the same appearance, the defendant’s attorney made an oral motion to release Poole from custody. Judge Sullivan denied the motion, citing a “lack of change in circumstances.”
Since pleading guilty to the Class M felony, Poole will not be eligible for any form of release until 2050.