ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FLOYD
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
A Floyd County Circuit Court jury found a woman guilty Wednesday of the first-degree murder of her estranged boyfriend, who died Aug. 4 after being shot in the back.
The jury came to its decision after a daylong trial Tuesday and about five hours of deliberation Wednesday.
The jury set Virginia Denise Lomax's punishment for murder at life in prison plus three years for using a firearm to commit the offense.
Lomax, 42, of Route 4, told authorities that her .32-caliber pistol accidentally discharged when Daniel M. McPeak swung a plastic bag containing clothes in her direction.
Commonwealth's Attorney Gino Williams said Wednesday that Lomax testified to essentially the same thing Tuesday.
"The argument from the commonwealth was that it was not [possible] for the wound to be created in the fashion she described. The shot was almost in the middle of his back," Williams said.
At a Nov. 6 preliminary hearing, a medical examiner testified McPeak died of a single gunshot wound to the right side of his back. The bullet perforated his right lung and heart before exiting his chest. The wound pattern means that McPeak's back was to the gun when the shot was fired.
In November, Lomax's attorney had argued that that conclusion wasn't inconsistent with Lomax's statement that McPeak was running from her after swinging the bag of clothes.
McPeak had left the home he shared with Lomax several days before the shooting. Deborah Bailey, a friend of the couple, said she gave McPeak a ride to Lomax's house when she saw him several miles from the house.
Bailey testified in November that she left the couple alone for a few minutes as she waited in another part of the house. She was heading into a bathroom when she saw McPeak leaving the house by the back door. Next, she "heard Denise holler 'no!' real loud;" then a shot rang out.
Bailey came out of the bathroom and saw Lomax who "came running in [and said] 'Oh my God, I shot Daniel,'" Bailey testified.
Judge Ray Grubbs set Lomax's formal sentencing for March 18. She has been held in the Carroll County Jail since her arrest last August.
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