ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996 TAG: 9603140029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER FLOYD
A Riner man has been sentenced to serve 43 years in prison for the April 1995 murder of a Floyd County woman he had been dating.
Vera Alreda Goad, 56, died April 30, shot as she knocked on a neighbor's door to seek help, hours after breaking off a relationship with Wesley Ray Sowers.
Sowers, 42, pleaded no contest in Floyd County Circuit Court last month to four charges.
Tuesday, Judge Ray Grubbs imposed a 50-year prison sentence for the murder, 20 years for breaking into Goad's house, and two years for shooting into an occupied dwelling. The time will be served concurrently. Grubbs imposed a separate, consecutive sentence of three years in prison for the weapon charge.
He then suspended 10 years of the sentence, giving Sowers a total of 43 years in prison.
Commonwealth's Attorney Gino Williams said the sentence was in the upper range of state sentencing guidelines.
According to testimony at last month's trial, Goad, 56, broke up with Sowers after the couple returned from a vacation at Myrtle Beach on April 30.
Sowers returned to her home later that night, armed with a pistol and rifle. Michelle Ratcliffe testified her mother ran from Sowers, screaming and begging for her life.
Sowers pursued Goad as she ran across the road to the porch of a neighbor's trailer, Ratcliffe testified. There, she said, she watched as he fired two shots from a .44-caliber pistol. The shots were fatal.
Williams had pressed for Sowers to serve a life in prison term, but he said "quite frankly, the difference between the life and 43 years is going to be negligible because of the 85 percent rule."
State law calls for prisoners to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence. That means Sowers could conceivably serve 361/2 years, meaning he would be 78 years old when he was released.
He would be able to petition for geriatric release at age 60.
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