The final chapter closed Monday in a southeastern Idaho murder case that stretched more than four years when a Jefferson County judge sentenced the last surviving defendant for his role in the 2022 killing of a man whose body was discovered at a roadside rest area along US Highway 26.
William Burton, 62, received a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to accessory to murder. The term breaks down to two years fixed followed by three years indeterminate, making Burton eligible for parole after serving the fixed portion. The sentence marks the end of proceedings against the living defendants tied to the death of a man known as Pelton, who was killed on May 13, 2022. His body was found at the Clark Hill Rest Area east of Ririe on US 26.
What Happened at the Clark Hill Rest Area
According to case records, Burton was riding in the back seat of a vehicle that day along with Randy Larkin and Gerald Hamlin when Larkin shot Pelton during an argument over drugs. At the time of the shooting, Burton was intoxicated. While Burton did not pull the trigger, prosecutors established that he later withheld critical information from law enforcement investigators working the case — conduct that formed the basis of his accessory charge.
A fourth person connected to the case, identified as Kelly Hincks, died in January 2024 before formal charges could be filed against her.
The Clark Hill Rest Area sits along a stretch of US Highway 26 in Jefferson County, a region that overlaps with southeastern Idaho’s rural corridor familiar to Bannock County residents traveling east toward Wyoming.
How the Other Defendants Were Handled
Randy Larkin, the man who fired the fatal shot, stood trial and was convicted of second-degree murder in November 2024. He is now serving a life sentence in the Idaho Department of Correction.
Gerald Hamlin took a different legal path. He pleaded guilty in July 2024 to accessory charges and concealing evidence. A judge sentenced him to a term ranging from three to ten years and placed him in Idaho’s retained jurisdiction program — commonly called the rider program — which gives offenders a structured opportunity to demonstrate rehabilitation before a judge decides whether to place them on probation or send them to prison to serve their sentence.
Burton’s two-year fixed term is comparatively lighter than Hamlin’s floor of three years, a distinction that reflects Burton’s intoxication at the time of the crime and his role as a passenger rather than an active participant in the shooting or its concealment beyond withholding information from investigators.
Case Spans Four Years in the Courts
From the date of Pelton’s death in May 2022 to Burton’s sentencing in August 2026, the case ran more than four years through Idaho’s court system — encompassing a full jury trial for Larkin, two separate guilty pleas, a death that removed one defendant from proceedings entirely, and multiple sentencing hearings. The length and complexity of the case reflects the challenges courts face when multiple defendants played different roles in the same crime and must be processed on separate tracks.
Idaho courts have seen a number of high-profile cases move through the system involving multiple co-defendants, each requiring independent legal proceedings. Readers following local court news can find related coverage, including a Chubbuck man facing trial on six felony counts after a judge refused to accept a plea arrangement and a Bannock County judge who rejected a plea deal in a child abuse case — both illustrating how Idaho judges handle complex criminal proceedings.
What Comes Next
With Burton’s sentencing complete, no additional defendants remain in the Clark Hill Rest Area case. Burton will be eligible to seek parole after serving the two-year fixed portion of his sentence. Larkin will remain incarcerated under his life sentence with no parole eligibility tied to the conviction. Hamlin continues in Idaho’s rider program, with a future hearing to determine whether he will be released on probation or returned to serve his remaining sentence. The case is formally closed at the trial court level barring any appeals.