A lawsuit filed against Harps Food Stores claiming the company illegally sold a handgun that was used less than a day later to murder an elderly Midway couple has been dismissed.
The suit was filed in Washington County Circuit Court in 2018 by family members of the murdered couple — Donald and LaDonna Rice –who were both in their 70s at the time they were killed.Harps is headquartered in Washington County.
According to electronic court records, the order to dismiss was filed earlier this month and came at the joint request of both parties.
The fact the case was dismissed with the agreement of both sides and with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought up again, is a strong indication that a settlement was reached.
The details of a settlement in a civil lawsuit are often not made public.
According to electronic court records, little activity has taken place in the case since September.
A five-day trial had been scheduled in Washington County Circuit Court for Sept. 20, 2021 but was not held.
THE PURCHASE
Nicholas Ian Roos and a companion, Talmadge Beigh Pendergrass, purchased a Canix 9mm handgun at the Harps store, located at 924 U.S. Highway 62 East on Nov. 6, 2015.
Photos: (from left) Nicholas Ian Roos and Talmadge Beigh Pendergrass
Roos used the weapon the next day to kill the Rice couple at their home along County Road 508. Roos is serving a life without parole sentence for the murders.
A number of attorneys represented the family, including two affiliated with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C.
In filings, family members acting on behalf of the Rice estate contended the sale of the gun was illegal, and that a Harps’ employee should have realized one person was buying the gun for another individual in what is known as a “straw man” or “straw” purchase.
The stand-in tactic is generally employed because there is something in the background of the person actually wanting the gun that renders him ineligible to purchase the weapon outright.
According to court records, Roos apparently believed his stay at a mental health treatment center in Batesville would prevent him from making the purchase in his own name.
Scenes from video surveillance cameras in the store show the purchase unfold, including a picture of Roos examining various firearms while Pendergrass stands by.
Pendergrass is shown filling out paperwork required before the purchase of the weapon could be concluded.
On Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and Explosives form 4473, Pendergrass swore he would be the owner of the gun and answered all of the required background questions.
CLERK BELIEVED SALE LEGAL
Harps contended that the clerk who made the sale, who was then a teenage high school student, did not believe at any time the sale was anything but completely within the law.
A person under 18 can sell weapons, but he or she is required to have written permission from a parent or guardian and to keep the document with them at all times.
In a deposition taken in the Rice family lawsuit, the clerk admitted he did not have anything in writing from his parents but was certain they knew he could be called on to sell guns as part of his job at Harps, and he did not believe they would object.
The clerk said he assumed Roos was buying the gun for Pendergrass as a gift, since Pendergrass had filled out the ATF background form, swearing he would own the weapon, and Roos provided funds for the purchase.
In surveillance footage, Roos is seen handing Pendergrass the money to pay for the gun.
Harps’ lawyers argued the clerk had no way of knowing Pendergrass would turn the gun over to Roos, or that Roos would use the weapon less than 24 hours later to commit a double homicide.
In late 2017, Pendergrass was convicted in federal district court of making false statements in acquiring a firearm and sentenced to 16 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised probation.
THE MURDERS
According to information gathered during the investigation of the double homicide, Roos and two companions, Zach Tyler Grayham and Mikayla Mynk, both in their 20s at the time, drove to the Rice home on Nov. 7, 2015.
Photos: Zach Tyler Grayham and Mikayla Mynk
Roos told investigators the trio arrived at the residence about 1 p.m.
Roos and Grayham were dropped off by Mynk, who then left to attend a funeral.
Roos was reported to have rung the doorbell, and LaDonna Rice opened the door. Roos has said he told the woman his vehicle had broken down and asked for help. At that point, LaDonna Rice was reported to have called her husband to the door.
When Donald Rice appeared, Roos said he pulled the handgun and pointed it at him. He said Donald Rice grabbed for the gun, and he shot the man.
According to investigators, LaDonna Rice began screaming, and Roos grabbed her, threw her to the floor and, while she was looking up at him, shot her in the head.
After the shootings, the house was ransacked and then set ablaze. Stolen items taken from the home were loaded into a truck belong to the Rice couple, and Roos and Grayham fled the scene in the vehicle.
The truck was later found burned.
It was alleged Roos’ purpose was to steal items he could quickly turn into cash to enable him to hire a lawyer to represent him in a custody battle.
He and Mynk, who was his girlfriend at the time, are reported to have searched for houses to burglarize they believed might be unoccupied.
In the Rice family’s lawsuit against Harps, the lawyer for the grocery company argued that the sale of the gun “did not cause this conduct. Roos clearly had a thought-out plan to go on a criminal breaking-and-entering spree to obtain stolen property” that could be sold to raise cash.
The company contended it was Roos who was solely responsible for the “tragic incident” in which Donald and LaDonna Rice lost their lives.
The now 30-year-old Roos is serving his sentence in the Varner Unit of the state prison system.
Grayham, who is now 29 years old, received a 25-year sentence and is an inmate in the North Central Unit of the state prison system at Calico Rock.
Mynk, who is 26, was given a 20-year prison sentence for her part in the double murder. She is being held in the Wrightsville Women’s Facility.
Double murderer Roos has complained about watery tofu in a lawsuit.
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