Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 27, 1993 TAG: 9302270197
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
ROANOKER PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDER
A Roanoke man pleaded guilty Friday in Montgomery County Circuit Court to the July murder of a Shawsville man who he thought had beaten his brother.Jesse M. Hickman, 46, of the 2100 block of Ravenwood Avenue, will serve 16 years in prison in exchange for his plea.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore sentenced Hickman to 25 years after convicting him of the first-degree murder of Darrell D. Calloway, 42.
The judge suspended 11 years and ordered that Hickman be placed on probation for 10 years when he is released from prison. Hickman also received a two-year sentence for using a firearm to commit murder.
Calloway died after being shot three times July 26 while standing in the kitchen of his home on Kirk Hollow Road off Virginia 637 in Shawsville.
Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith told the judge that Hickman had confessed to the shooting and brought the weapon to authorities.
Hickman told investigators he had been drinking all day with friends at New London Drag Strip. He returned to his Roanoke home and was told that his 63-year-old brother was in a hospital and in critical condition.
Hickman said he presumed that his brother had been beaten by Calloway. Hickman had someone drive him to Calloway's trailer.
Hickman then fired through a window, striking Calloway three times.
Early in the investigation, authorities said the gunman was about 42 feet away in woods to the right of the Calloway trailer's driveway. Five or six shots were fired, with some of the bullets hitting the window frame and fragmenting.
In August, Sheriff Ken Phipps said there were reports of a fight between Hickman's brother and Calloway. Hickman's brother had stayed at the trailer for about a month prior to the shooting.
The brother had been found in the front yard of the trailer with what appeared to be injuries around his face. The man was sunburned, and apparently had been lying in the sun for some time, the sheriff said.
The medical evidence, however, is unclear about what injuries he received other than a sunburn. The brother, who has since recovered, told authorities he could not remember what happened to him.
Hickman "thought his brother had been severely beaten, as had happened before," said Henry Whitehurst, Hickman's attorney.
"It's a real human tragedy both ways," he said, adding that he considered the plea agreement "an extremely fair sentence."