Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 1, 1990 TAG: 9006010477
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE SHENANDOAH BUREAU
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
James Seay, a 22-year-old welder who fired a shotgun at his father, a sheriff's deputy and Neale, had been charged with three counts of malicious wounding, as well as with using a firearm in the commission of a felony and destruction of property.
Circuit Judge Rudolph Bumgardner III found Seay guilty on all the charges, despite the arguments of Seay's attorney that the shooting had been provoked.
"There was some provocation," said Seay's attorney, W.T. "Pete" Robey, in arguing for a lesser charge. Robey noted Seay's father, Robert Seay, had fired a pistol at his son's car earlier the same night.
Robert Seay already has been convicted of shooting into an occupied vehicle.
"We argue not justification, legally, but we argue understandable provocation," said Robey.
Seay and his wife, Teresa, had been in the process of moving from his parents' house at Natural Bridge into their own trailer when the violence began, testimony revealed Thursday.
The trouble started when Seay returned to his parents' house for the night to find his father's truck blocking the drive, testimony revealed. Robert Seay testified during the two-hour trial that he was trying to prevent his son from taking items that didn't belong to him.
The younger Seay testified he tried to move his father's truck by pushing it with his car, but his father shot at his car with a pistol.
"He was aiming for me," Seay said.
Seay has told deputies that he went back to the trailer, loaded a shotgun with birdshot, and came back planning to kill his father, testified Capt. Ron Hall of the Rockbridge County Sheriff's Office.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Robert N. Joyce argued Seay knew exactly what he was doing when he came back with the gun.
"He went back up there with the intention of killing his father. He shot into a group of people, and hit three," Joyce said in closing arguments. "It's the kind of offense we just can't tolerate."
In finding Seay guilty, Bumgardner told him he found "beyond a reasonable doubt, your actions were under the control of reason." He denied a request for bond pending the results of a presentencing report. Seay faces a maximum of more than 60 years in prison.
Seay, who has two children, made headlines with the Sept. 9 shooting by hitting not only his father but deputy Wayne Kirby and Neale, who was riding along with the deputy for the night.
James Seay was later arrested at his trailer.
The shooting incident prompted the county's board of supervisors to seek more state funds for the sheriff's office, according to news accounts at the time. Supervisors argued Rockbridge County, with its 600 square miles of rugged terrain, needed more than its 14 deputies.
Neale said Thursday the state has allocated no more funds - but the county itself has since provided its deputies with portable radios, shotguns and bullet-resistant vests.
"I'm just sorry that it ever happened," Neale said Thursday. "It's a shame."
by CNB