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Jerel Norman |
Friday, December 18, 2009
By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer
Jerel Maceo Norman, who will turn 22 this weekend, was sentenced Thursday to serve five years in prison for the slaying of a teenager and nearly two more years because he was on probation when he fired the shots.
Shortly before he was sentenced, Norman apologized to the family of 18-year-old Lewis Anthony “A.J.” Dillard Jr., whom he shot to death last May in Sandy Level.
“I hope one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me,” Norman said.
Judge David V. Williams sentenced Norman to five years in prison and five years suspended for voluntary manslaughter on the condition of three years’ probation and 10 years of good behavior.
Williams also sentenced Norman to 11 months and 15 days in jail on each of two charges of violating probation. At the time of the shooting, Norman was on probation for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and brandishing a firearm, said Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Andrew Nester.
During the hearing in Henry County Circuit Court, three witnesses testified for Norman. His aunt, Darlene Smallwood, and his sister, Jessica Norman, told the court that their family and Dillard’s family were close, and that the two young men had been friends before troubles began between them and some other youths.
Smallwood and another witness, Nathaniel Smith, testified that they saw Norman with black eyes and other injuries before the slaying took place. Although they did not specify how he was injured, Smallwood said there had been trouble between Norman and “a group of boys down the street.”
“Every time you turned around, it was something going on,” she said.
Smith, who testified that Norman was living in his home when the shooting took place, answered “yes” when Norman’s attorney asked if the injuries Norman received were gang-related.
Nester said later that he does not know if the shooting was related to gangs, but he said he does believe it was related to drugs. Money and a substance that appeared to be drugs were found by Dillard’s body after the shooting, Nester has said.
Witnesses to the shooting told police that Dillard and Norman exchanged words shortly before the shots were fired.
Smallwood said Norman feels remorse for what he did.
“He says every time he attempts to go to sleep, he thinks about what happened,” she said. “And he’s very sorry, because before, they were very good friends, and we all are related to one another.”
Norman’s sister, Jessica Norman, said she is willing to have her brother live with her in James City County, where he would like to study AutoCAD (a computer design program) and heating and air-conditioning at the local community college.
“My environment is productive,” she said, adding that she would not tolerate substance abuse or illegal guns.
Norman’s attorney, Mark Williams of Danville, called the shooting “a tragic situation.”
When Norman pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in October, his attorney described what happened as imperfect self-defense, Nester has said. According to witnesses’ accounts, Dillard reached for something just before he was shot.
Nester has said that to his knowledge, Dillard was not armed at the time.
The maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter is 10 years in prison. The judge’s sentence fell at the high end of sentencing guidelines in the case, which Nester said called for between two years, two months and five years, 10 months in prison.
Nester did not request a specific sentence, telling the judge that, “It’s very difficult to put a number of years on what Mr. Dillard’s life is worth.”
As Norman stood for his sentencing, an unidentified woman in the courtroom began crying. She indicated later that five years in prison was not enough.
Jessica Norman declined to comment after the hearing.
Jerel Norman was returned to the Henry County Jail, where he has been held since his arrest in May. |
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