Murder suspect gets five years for possessing ammo

The suspect in a 2016 Accomack murder case was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday in Northampton Circuit Court for being a felon and possessing ammunition.

Retired Judge William R. Savage III suspended all but seven months of the term for 61-year-old Joseph Lewis Tykot III, of  Harborton.

Tykot was allowed to wait until Monday, Sept. 9, to report to the Eastern Shore Regional Jail in Eastville to begin serving his sentence. He was not permitted to serve his time on weekends. Tykot will be on supervised probation for two years following his release.

At trial, he pleaded not guilty to the ammo charge and told the court he was unaware that he was not allowed to possess ammo because of his 1988 narcotics possession conviction in New York.

Tykot admitted to buying four boxes or 80 rounds on Feb. 24, 2023. He was indicted on a count of second-degree murder in Accomack in 2021 and was free on bond when he purchased the ammunition. Tykot said he paid with a credit card thinking he was doing nothing wrong. He said he had been buying ammo locally for years for target practice for his family and workers.

The murder trial was scheduled several times and then continued. The latest date is Feb. 4, 2025. Tykot was accused of killing 41-year-old Eric Clifford Rhatigan, of Eastville, in June 2016. The victim’s body was found in “a dirt field” about “145 Feet” from Davis Wharf Road. Rhatigan died from multiple blunt force traumas to the head, neck, and torso.