In Hamilton County Criminal Court on Monday, Billy Hawk pleaded nolo contendere to voluntary manslaughter for the 1981 murder of Johnny Mack Salyer, whose body was found in a barrel floating in Chickamauga Lake, according to a press release from the Hamilton County District Attorney’s office.

A jury found Hawk guilty of first-degree murder on June 6, 2016 and he was sentenced to life in prison. Hawk was granted a re-trial by Judge Don Poole late last year after post-conviction lawyers argued that the prosecution improperly made mention of polygraph evidence in front of jurors. Hawk has since been free on bond while awaiting re-trial.

District Attorney General Neal Pinkston told Judge Don Poole that the victim’s family is okay with the plea agreement, and is appreciative of the work done by the office’s cold case unit.

“I am very proud of the Cold Case Unit and all prosecutors who worked on this case to obtain a conviction,” said General Pinkston. “The pursuit of justice and prosecution of an almost 40-year-old case is extremely difficult to say the least, but we have now identified and convicted Johnny Mack Salyer’s murderer.  His family will no longer wonder.”

Judge Poole accepted Hawk’s nolo contendere plea to voluntary manslaughter, sentencing him to five years, with the time already served. 

The press release states that the term “Nolo contendere” is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an alternative to a pleading of guilty or not guilty. A no-contest plea, while not technically a guilty plea, has the same immediate effect as a guilty plea and is often offered as a part of a plea agreement.