ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, April 8, 1997                 TAG: 9704080081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-4  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON THE ROANOKE TIMES 

MAN WHO SHOT COUPLE TO SERVE 14 YEARS IN PRISON 24 OF 38 YEARS SUSPENDED BY JUDGE

The defendant said he set out only to scare the two people he wounded.

Troy Alexander claimed he was just trying to frighten a Roanoke County couple when he took a .380-caliber handgun and burst into the bedroom where they were sleeping.

Instead he ended up shooting both of them, and on Monday, a Circuit Court judge sentenced him to 14 years behind bars.

Judge G.O. Clemens gave Alexander 38 years in prison but suspended 24 of them. Clemens also ordered Alexander to serve 10 years on probation after he gets out of prison.

Alexander, 23, of Roanoke, told police the shooting resulted from a dispute with one of the victims, Junior Glass, over a $600 car debt.

Prosecutors gave this account of the crime:

On Nov. 4 an accomplice, Brenda Hearn, 32, invited Glass and his girlfriend, Chastity Elliot, to her Carson Road home to smoke crack cocaine.

Hearn, hoping to be rewarded with cocaine from Alexander, waited until Glass and Elliot were asleep in her bedroom. Then she drove to Alexander's house and let him know where they were.

Alexander pulled on a pair of latex gloves and wrapped a pink towel around the handgun.

Then Hearn drove him to her house. She stayed in her truck while Alexander went in through the unlocked back door.

Alexander said he thought he shot into the floor, but at least five rounds hit Elliot, perforating her colon, and another round hit Glass in the hip. Both have recovered from their wounds.

Alexander pleaded no contest and was convicted in February of two counts of malicious wounding and two firearm charges.

At Monday's sentencing hearing, he claimed that he had been coerced by police into making a damaging statement about the crime.

Alexander still faces federal drug conspiracy charges.

Hearn has pleaded guilty for her part in the shootings and will be sentenced next week.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Rick Buchanan said Hearn cooperated with investigators and "she'll receive some consideration because of that." He said prosecutors would ask the judge to reduce her charges from two counts of aggravated malicious wounding to malicious wounding.

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