GEORGETOWN, Texas — Editor's note: The above video was published in February 2022, when Jimmy Tschoerner pleaded not guilty.
A man charged with murder in connection with the disappearance of a Georgetown auto shop owner took a plea deal on Thursday.
KVUE's Bryce Newberry was in the courtroom when a plea agreement was reached for Jimmy Allen Tschoerner. Tschoerner agreed to a 60-year prison sentence for the February 2020 murder of Harvey Huber, the husband of a woman who investigators say Tschoerner had an ongoing sexual relationship with.
Tschoerner's case was set to go to trial in May, but the plea agreement was only reached after Wednesday's pre-trial hearing. Newberry reported that Huber's family members addressed Tschoerner in the Williamson County courtroom on Thursday.
They spoke about the special person Huber was, calling him a big-hearted guy who loved and cared for his family and community.
"Mr. Tschoerner contacted us and wanted to put an end to it all. He didn't feel that a long, drawn-out, emotional trial was the best for the family, the community and even this court, so he instructed us to make this deal," said Marc Chavez, Tschoerner's defense attorney. "He has always been an emotional person about it. He has always been torn up, as you've seen in ... the plea today. He was very emotional and broke down."
Chavez told Newberry that Tschoerner will not be eligible for parole for 30 years.
During the hearing, Chavez handed a letter from Tschoerner to Williamson County Assistant District Attorney Dee McWilliams, before Tschoerner admitted to killing Huber and apologized in court.
"He was my friend and everything and I killed him. It was over nothing and that's why I wrote the family that letter about what actually happened so they're not always in limbo. It's a sad situation and you know, I apologize with all my heart," Tschoerner said.
While the plea is a step toward justice, it's still not enough for some of Huber's family members. They still haven't found his body nor been able to hold a funeral for him.
"I need something of Harvey's," his brother-in-law Rick Jowers told KVUE. "We can't move forward. When we do start to move forward a little bit, something happens. Something will come up, something I picture, a thought, or a smell. Something comes up that brings it all back."
Huber, the owner of Huber Auto Repair, was reported missing on Feb. 25, 2020. Tschoerner was later arrested in connection with his disappearance.
In March 2020, KVUE obtained court documents that appeared to reveal the circumstances surrounding Huber's disappearance. Police also said that Tschoerner was having an affair with Huber's wife. Read more information from those documents.
In September 2020, Tschoerner was charged with murder. He had previously been arrested and charged with tampering with physical evidence in connection with Huber's disappearance.
The City of Georgetown said then that DNA evidence from Huber’s auto shop; from a tow truck operated by Tschoerner; and from a location along Interstate 35 that Tschoerner’s cellphone records placed him at on the night Huber went missing came back as a match with Huber’s children. A previously unidentified witness had also told investigators that Tschoerner had told them, “Harvey is not a problem anymore. I killed him.”
In February 2022, Tschoerner pleaded not guilty to the murder and evidence-tampering charges against him. His trial was set for the week of May 23, prior to the plea agreement reached on Thursday.
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