Man sentenced to 21 years for fatal beating of Allen inmate
Published 6:00 am Sunday, October 18, 2026
SCOTTSVILLE — Over the course of his life, Levi Parrish took part in the Boy Scouts, attained the top rank of Eagle Scout, taught himself to play guitar, enjoyed riding dirt bikes, hunting and fishing and worked as a maintenance tech and electrician at J.M. Smucker in Scottsville.
A life of varied achievements and interests came to a tragic end in incarceration, with the 40-year-old Parrish being the victim of a brutal, unprovoked attack by another inmate in Allen County Detention Center.
On Tuesday, Parrish’s attacker, Robert Tomes, 38, was sentenced to 21 years in prison after previously pleading guilty to charges of first-degree manslaughter and third-degree assault.
Parrish’s father, Lee Parrish, attended Tomes’ sentencing hearing in Allen Circuit Court with other surviving family members, and provided a written statement detailing his son’s life and how his death has affected the family.
The statement was read by a victim’s advocate with the Allen County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office
“Now when I come home I sit and look at the four walls and the TV and where he used to sit…he is sorely missed by his whole family,” Lee Parrish wrote.
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The jailhouse attack occurred on Jan. 17, 2024, as Tomes and Parrish were part of a group of inmates preparing to take part in court proceedings from the jail via Zoom.
Records indicated that Parrish had been booked into the jail the night before on suspicion of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence, while Tomes had been an inmate for three days following his arrest on charges of criminal trespassing and giving an officer false identifying information.
While being escorted to a cell soon after his arrest, Tomes picked up an additional charge of third-degree assault after punching a deputy jailer, for which Tomes pleaded guilty last month along with the homicide.
An arrest citation described the attack as “seemingly unprovoked” and stated that after Parrish was brought into the jail’s commissary room, Tomes stood up, walked over to Parrish as he was seated in a chair and struck him multiple times in the face.
Parrish’s injuries were so extensive as to render him unable to give a statement to police, and he died from his injuries on Jan. 26, 2024 at an area hospital.
A grand jury indicted Tomes on a count of murder, with the indictment describing Parrish’s death as due to blunt force trauma, “including an accumulation of blood that formed between the skull and his scalp, injury to his brain caused by external force and a nasal bone fracture.”
Tomes’ court-appointed attorney, Kayla Fugate of the Department of Public Advocacy, said in court Tuesday that Tomes expressed regret and “extreme remorse” for his actions, and while Tomes had a history of substance abuse and was under the influence at the time of the events, there was no explanation for what happened.
Allen County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Lindsey condemned the “violent, unprovoked, cowardly attack” by Tomes.
“This is a man that has never learned anything from his significant criminal past and it’s a tragedy all around,” Lindsey said.
In sentencing Tomes, Allen Circuit Judge Mark Thurmond said that Tomes had “caused a lot of people an incalculable amount of harm” and extended his sympathy to Lee Parrish.
“I hope going forward you can focus on what (your son’s) life meant, he mattered and the senseless way he passed away should not define his time on Earth,” Thurmond said. “I wish I had the ability to say or do something that could make it better or at least make it make sense.”
