Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 26, 1995                   TAG: 9505260059
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MAN ENTERS GUILTY PLEA IN SHOOTING

Joseph N. Newcomer, 30, pleaded guilty in Bedford County Circuit Court to four felonies: malicious wounding; using a firearm in a felony; malicious discharge of a firearm in an inhabited structure; and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon.

Newcomer's jury trial had just begun when he interrupted to enter his plea. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Krantz said Newcomer was concerned that the jury could have imposed a stiffer sentence when they learned of a previous malicious wounding conviction on his record.

Newcomer told police he shot Cynthia Orange last year at his Bedford County house after an argument in which he accused her of cheating on him. Orange and Newcomer have a child.

Orange suffered permanent loss of mobility and sensation from the shooting, Krantz said, and she required bone replacement operations and skin and muscle grafts.

Sentencing for Newcomer was postponed, pending a pre-sentence report. He faces up to 48 years in prison.