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Terrance Milano Hairston |
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer
A Ridgeway man who pleaded guilty Tuesday to shooting his estranged wife after she found him hiding under her bed could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Terrance Milano Hairston, 33, of Ridgeway, pleaded guilty to malicious wounding and seven other charges, including arson and armed statutory burglary, during two hearings in Henry County Circuit Court. He had been set for trial Tuesday but accepted plea agreements instead.
Hairston was charged in connection with three incidents last year, one in June and two in December.
As she summarized the evidence against Hairston, Assistant Henry County Commonwealth’s Attorney Dawn Futrell said he and his wife, Veronica Hairston, were estranged and living apart on June 29, 2008, when Terrance Hairston entered his wife’s home in Fieldale without her permission.
According to an account Terrance Hairston gave investigators, a man with whom Hairston believed his wife was having an affair called the house while he was there, Futrell said. Terrance Hairston became upset, cut the fuel lines leading to the home’s basement heater and carried the fuel oil upstairs, where he doused his wife’s bed and living room couch, Futrell said.
Hairston struck a match to the bed but did not burn the couch, Futrell said. The home was not destroyed, but there was “significant” damage, she said.
When officers arrested Terrance Hairston at his home in Ridgeway, they recovered a semiautomatic handgun taken from his wife’s home, Futrell said.
Hairston pleaded guilty to grand larceny of a firearm, statutory burglary and arson of an unoccupied dwelling. The last charge was reduced from arson of an occupied dwelling as part of the plea agreement.
Futrell also agreed to dismiss a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in exchange for the pleas.
Hairston faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on those three charges, Judge David V. Williams said.
During a second hearing Tuesday afternoon, Futrell summarized evidence in the other two cases. According to her account, Terrance Hairston was out on bond and “was not supposed to contact” Veronica Hairston when he got a message to her last December that he had some of her belongings.
Veronica Hairston went to her husband’s Ridgeway home with two or three other people to get the items. When she tried to leave, Terrance Hairston became upset, Futrell said.
As Veronica Hairston drove away, Terrance Hairston clung to the hood of her vehicle, where he remained until she stopped at the Ridgeway Drive-In, Futrell said. The drive-in is less than half a mile down the road.
The couple got into an argument, and Terrance Hairston pulled a gun, according to Futrell. He fired in his wife’s direction but did not hit her, Futrell said.
Two days later, Veronica Hairston, who no longer was living in Fieldale, stopped by her home there to pick up her mail, Futrell said. Hairston became alarmed when she saw a bicycle near the house that she thought belonged to her husband.
She called police, and three Henry County officers responded. When they entered, “they noticed that the lights weren’t working,” Futrell said.
The deputies searched the home as best they could with flashlights, Futrell said. They didn’t find anyone, but they smelled fresh paint and noticed furniture strewn about.
Sgt. Mark Winn flipped a breaker in the basement to restore the power, and Veronica Hairston and a female friend began looking around the home. A television and refrigerator had been spray painted, Futrell said.
Winn and Deputies S.F. Clark and J.T. Gibbs noticed threatening letters in the kitchen that Terrance Hairston had written to his wife, Futrell said. As the officers were looking at those, “they heard screams from the back bedroom,” Futrell said.
Veronica Hairston had entered the bedroom and was sitting on the floor when she looked underneath her bed and saw her husband there, “pointing a gun” at her, Futrell said.
The women came running out of the bedroom with Terrance Hairston in pursuit, Futrell said. He initially pointed the handgun at Sgt. Winn, she said.
Veronica Hairston “dove to get out of the way,” Futrell said.
According to Winn’s account, Terrance Hairston fired at his wife twice, hitting her once in the hip, Futrell said.
Winn and the other officers began shooting toward Hairston, who eventually put his hands up, Futrell said.
He was not injured.
Veronica Hairston was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. She subsequently was treated and released, but the bullet remained lodged in her back, Futrell said.
The prosecutor said that as far as she knows, it is still there. Veronica Hairston was not in the courtroom Tuesday for either hearing, but Futrell said the plea agreements were “acceptable to her.”
As Judge Williams asked Terrance Hairston a series of routine questions about his decision to plead guilty, he held his head in his hands and appeared to cry. Occasionally wiping his face with a tissue, Hairston kept his head down.
Williams found him guilty of malicious wounding, armed statutory burglary, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the December incidents. In exchange for his plea, a charge of maliciously shooting within an occupied dwelling was dismissed.
Hairston faces a maximum penalty of life in prison for armed statutory burglary, as well a maximum of 20 years for malicious wounding. He also faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 13 years on the firearms charges.
Williams set sentencing on all the charges for Nov. 4.
During the morning hearing, Martinsville attorney Philip Gardner, who was representing Hairston on the June charges, told the judge that although Hairston was found competent to stand trial, he was under mental strain when the incident occurred.
“There’s no question but that there was a horrendous mental meltdown that happened with the loss of his family,” Gardner said, adding that he would get into those issues at the sentencing hearing.
Futrell said the Hairstons still are married.
Terrance Hairston, who was dressed in an orange Henry County Jail uniform, was represented in the second case by Kim Brooks of the public defender’s office. |
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