Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 16, 1993 TAG: 9306160136
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Jermaine L. Johnson, 20, was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for the malicious wounding of 19-year-old Dennis Rivins.
Rivins narrowly escaped death the night of Feb. 2 when five shots were fired through the front door of an apartment at the Lansdowne housing project. One of the bullets hit Rivens in the chest as he sat in an armchair.
Johnson and two other young men were out looking for Rivins that night to settle an argument over a girlfriend, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom.
At a preliminary hearing earlier this year, Rivins testified that he spent more than a week in the hospital before doctors decided to leave the bullet where it was - lodged next to his heart.
The incident at Lansdowne - which has also been the scene of a murder and other shootings this year - prompted some residents to request COPE, a community-based police program that has been successful in other high-crime areas.
Police plan to expand its Community Oriented Policing Effort to include a second team of officers to work with Lansdowne residents.
As part of an agreement reached Tuesday in Roanoke Circuit Court, Johnson pleaded guilty to malicious wounding. In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges of shooting into an occupied building and use of a firearm.
Two other men were charged in the shooting. One has pleaded guilty to reduced charges of being an accessory, and the other is awaiting trial.
Rivins did not attend Tuesday's hearing. Branscom said recent efforts by police and prosecutors to contact him have been unsuccessful.
by CNB