ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601310067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
A Bedford man pleaded no contest Tuesday to attacking his ex-girlfriend with a meat cleaver after he broke into her house and hid under her 12-year-old son's bed.
Herman Jerome Evans, 33, faces up to 40 years in prison for malicious wounding and breaking and entering in the August attack. No sentencing date has been set.
``It's a very serious case, and I'm sure the judge will take that into account,'' said Joe Kuster, Bedford County assistant commonwealth's attorney. ``Her wounds were very severe, and the bleeding was heavy. Going into somebody's home to commit that kind of crime is a very serious offense.''
At a preliminary hearing in October, Evans' ex-girlfriend, Pearl King, testified that Evans broke into her Bedford house and cut her repeatedly.
She and her two sons, ages 8 and 12, had gone out for the evening, she said, before returning between midnight and 1 a.m. and going to bed.
Her 12-year-old son testified that he had been in bed five to 10 minutes when he heard a noise and saw someone get up from under his bed and walk toward his mother's room.
A few minutes later, Evans was sitting on King's bed, where she and her 8-year-old son had been sleeping. Evans and King struggled, and the 8-year-old, who was not injured, was knocked off the bed. King's 12-year-old son ran for help.
Evans slashed King's fingers, arms and face with the meat cleaver, then went into the hall. When he did, she called police.
He came back, she said, grabbed her from behind and gave her a deep gash on the back of her neck. After hearing sirens, he fled.
Bedford police arrested Evans minutes later at a car wash near King's house. The weapon was not found, but a police investigator testified that Evans' brother said a meat cleaver was missing from his mother's house, where Evans sometimes stayed.
LENGTH: Short : 44 linesby CNB