Millsap bound over first-degree murder

A 35-year-old Tommy James Millsap was bound over for trial Friday in a case charging him with the March 29 shotgun slaying  of Toby Albin.

The bind over order came following Millsap’s preliminary hearing on charges of first-degree murder, feloniously possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance (methamphetamine). District Attorney Craig Ladd said Special District Judge Thomas Baldwin ordered Millsap to stand trial on all three charges.

Millsap was arrested at his Clover Lane residence within hours of Albin’s death. Carter County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to Millsap’s residence after receiving a report of a shooting. The 33-year-old victim’s body was discovered inside the house. The murder weapon was also recovered from Millsap’s house.  Millsap was taken into custody. He was initially booked into the Carter County Detention Center pending a charge of possession of a firearm after former conviction. But at the time, Sheriff Ken Grace called the single charge “preliminary.”

Grace said he expected formal charges would be based on the outcome of the investigation into what he labeled a homicide.

Talking about the case just days later, the sheriff said Albin’s death was apparently the result of a “disturbance” at the residence.

The $50,000 bond originally set in the case was increased to $150,000 with the addition of the first-degree murder and drug charges. Millsap has remained detained since his arrest pending the posting of bond and/or the outcome of his trial.