“It has not been long enough.”

That’s what Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas said when he learned the man convicted of robbing and killing a barbecue restaurant owner in 2001 will have a parole hearing on Thursday.

“That was a violent crime. It was a robbery. It was a murder. He had a criminal history. And the gun he used was also stolen,” Thomas said on Friday. “I’m totally opposed to him being paroled.”

Derrick Towan Calhoun was sentenced to life in prison on July 22, 2003, for murder and first-degree robbery.

He had originally been charged with capital murder, but agreed to a last-minute plea deal in exchange for testifying against his co-defendant, Kenneth Andre Cargill.

The men killed Roy Faulkner on Oct. 17, 2001, at the Huk A Buk barbecue restaurant when Faulkner tried to defend himself during the robbery. Calhoun, who was holding an SKS assault rifle with a bayonet attached to the end of it, shot Faulkner multiple times during the attack. He died nearly a month later in a Birmingham hospital.

“He absolutely doesn’t need to be paroled,” Thomas said.

Calhoun had been convicted in November 2000 of second-degree and third-degree robbery and was sentenced to six years at the time.

He was released from prison after serving only one year and one month of the six-year term and was on parole when the Faulkner murder took place. He was denied parole in a previous hearing on Sept. 9, 2014.

Teddy Faulkner, Roy’s son, said Friday he plans to write a letter to the parole board opposing Calhoun’s release.

“This is the second time in almost 20 years he’s come up for parole and that’s ridiculous,” he said.

“If he should get a chance for parole, it should not be within 20 years.”

Teddy Faulkner said the news of the parole hearing was distressing to his mother, Mary., who was in the parking lot at the time of the robbery and attack.

“She said, ‘He wants to get to go home to his family, and I’ll never get to see Roy again.’”