By STAFF REPORTS
Published: January 4, 2010
Derek Edward Burkhead will serve 10 years in prison for the manslaughter death of his longtime girlfriend, the mother of his 6-year-old son.
Hanover County Circuit Judge J. Overton Harris this afternoon rejected pleas from Burkhead and his lawyer that he receive significant suspended time in a case of accidental shooting that followed a night of drinking.
Harris said this afternoon he was going far beyond the high end of sentencing guidelines calling for a six-month jail term because the jury recommended a 10-year sentence when it convicted Burkhead, now 26, of involuntary manslaughter Oct. 30 last year.
Jennifer Willis, 23, died from a single gunshot wound to the top of her head in the early morning hours of Sept. 3, 2006. Three earlier trials in the case ended in mistrials, including a trial that resulted in a second-degree murder conviction. That verdict was invalidated because the jury inadvertently received documents that were not part of the record.
A compilation of daily news articles from around the United States about deaths (including both people and animals) that appear to occur in the context of a past or present intimate relationship, focusing on 2009-present. (NOTE: this blog is limited to incidents that appear in the media and are captured by our search terms. We recognize this is not an exhaustive portrayal of all deaths resulting from intimate violence.) When is society going to realize intimate violence makes victims of us all?
Monday, January 4, 2010
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