ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 27, 1996 TAG: 9611270068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER
A Bedford County man was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison for the shooting death of his live-in girlfriend.
In January, a jury found Joe Gardner Bolling, a 49-year-old furniture worker, guilty of second-degree murder in the June shooting of 27-year-old nurse Torina Lynn Wright, who had two children with Bolling.
The jury had recommended that Bolling serve 27 years for the murder - one year for each year of Wright's life - and three years on firearms charges. But in exchange for the chance at a lighter sentence, Bolling waived his right to appeal and pleaded guilty to the murder Tuesday.
Bedford Circuit Judge William Sweeney sentenced Bolling to 25 years, with 10 years suspended, for the murder and three years for the firearms charge.
"One of the major forces behind this was the Wright family's wishes to have it ended, to not have it come up again on appeal," said Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Krantz.
Bolling shot Wright in the left buttock after an argument in their home off Virginia 718. The bullet exited through her abdomen, piercing a major artery and causing her to bleed to death. She was unarmed and trying to leave the house.
At his trial, Bolling testified that he only intended to frighten Wright with the gun, and it went off by mistake. Shortly before she died, Wright told rescue workers that the shooting was an accident.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB