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| Hairston hid under wife's bed before shooting her in the back |
Terrance Hairston |
Friday, November 6, 2009
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Family members wept Wednesday as Circuit Court Judge David V. Williams sentenced Terrance Milano Hairston to 16 years in prison for crimes against his estranged wife, including shooting her after she found him hiding under her bed.
“I love my wife dearly,” Hairston said in a low tone Wednesday as he asked Williams to “consider my kids” when sentencing him.
Being in jail has been “hard enough ... I don’t get to see them” often, he said.
Hairston, 33, of Ridgeway, pleaded guilty in September to eight charges, including two counts possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count each malicious wounding, use of a firearm in commission of malicious wounding and armed statutory burglary.
If he had received the maximum sentence allowed, Hairston could have spent the rest of his life in prison.
He was sentenced to the mandatory five-year sentence on each of the two counts of possession of a firearm charges and a three-year mandatory sentence on use of a firearm. Hairston also was sentenced to two years on the malicious wounding charge and one year on the armed statutory burglary charge.
He did not receive active jail time on three other charges — statutory burglary, arson of an unoccupied dwelling and grand larceny of a firearm, according to court records.
All totaled, Hairston will spend 16 years in jail. He also was ordered to make restitution of $2,649.98 to Nationwide Insurance and $500 to Joey Lawson. Both amounts were related to the arson charge.
Dressed in an orange inmate suit, Hairston sat beside defense attorney Philip Gardner and appeared alert. His gaze seemed affixed in Williams’ direction.
Hairston pleaded guilty to shooting his wife while he was out on bond on charges that included arson in another incident involving his wife.
The 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 were in connection with the December incident in which Hairston said he hid under the bed in his wife’s home.
Veronica “Ann” Hairston, who saw a bicycle near her house that she thought belonged to her husband, became alarmed and called police, according to reports.
The three Henry County officers responding found the lights were not working and used flashlights to search the home. As they did, they heard screams from a back bedroom, as Terrance Hairston pursued Ann Hairston and a female friend as they fled from the bedroom, according to reports.
Ann Hairston later told police she looked underneath her bed and saw her husband pointing a gun at her. Terrance Hairston fired at his wife twice, and one bullet struck her, according to reports.
Ann Hairston “has a bullet in her back” that will likely be there for the rest of her life, Dawn Futtrell, assistant commonwealth’s attorney, said Wednesday. She spoke after Terrance Hairston’s defense attorneys argued that he was “in some ways a victim” because Ann Hairston ignored a court order and instigated contact with him.
“Someone knew where his buttons were and kept pushing them,” Gardner said. The defense also maintained that Terrance Hairston had “mental health issues” and urged Williams to sentence him on the low end of the guidelines.
Futtrell argued that Hairston’s words contributed to his conviction.
“If you ain’t dead, you will be,” she said, quoting a remark Futtrell said Hairston made to his wife.
Ann Hairston was not the her husband’s only victim, Futtrell said, and added all of Henry County was subjected to the stormy relationship.
Terrance Hairston’s mother and grandfather testified that Hairston was obsessed with his wife.
Terrance Hairston’s mother, Kathy Schoefield, said she had been “dealing with this” situation for 13 or 14 years. “He’s obsessed with her. He eats, thinks and sleeps Ann,” she said.
Schoefield said the two met when he was only 19 years old, and they eventually got married.
“He’s so obsessed with her that if me and her argued, he’d turn on me,” Schoefield said.
In one of the last letters Schoefield received from her son, he asked his grandfather to build a house for his estranged wife and “told me to help her pay her bills,” Schoefield said. |
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