ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 26, 1996 TAG: 9607260056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
Cepada Renaldo Wiley told police he was scared for himself and his brother when he shot a man four times.
Jesse D. Ferguson had just thrown Wiley's brother through the plate-glass window of a motel room at the Embassy Inn in Northwest Roanoke, Wiley told Detective S.P. Lukacs, and the two men continued to struggle on the pavement of the motel's parking lot.
So instead of shooting into the air, as he had done earlier in a futile attempt to break up the fight, Wiley admitted to Lukacs that he fired four shots into Ferguson's back and neck.
After hearing the detective's summary of the statement during a hearing Thursday in Roanoke General District Court, Judge Vincent Lilley ruled there was enough evidence to support murder and firearm charges against Wiley. He certified the case to a grand jury that will meet next month.
The shooting happened about 10:30 a.m. July 4, when Ferguson, 22, showed up at a motel room where Wiley's brother, Sherrond, was staying with a woman they had both dated. The men got into an argument over the woman, and Sherrond Wiley called his brother for help.
On the way to the Melrose Avenue motel, he took out a handgun he kept in the glove compartment of his car, Cepada Wiley told Lukacs.
His brother and Ferguson were fighting outside a motel room when he arrived, Cepada Wiley said, and he fired several shots into the air. But the men kept fighting, and he became frightened when his brother began to bleed heavily after being thrown through the window, he told police.
At that point, he said, he shot Ferguson four times - firing the last shots as the wounded man struggled to stand up. Ferguson died at the scene.
After asking the motel's desk clerk to call for help, Wiley laid his handgun on the trunk of a car and waited for police to arrive.
Wiley, 22, of Roanoke, had been charged with first-degree murder, but Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Bowers asked at the beginning of Thursday's hearing that the charge be amended to remove the element of premeditation.
Defense attorney John Acree had asked that the charge be further reduced to manslaughter, arguing that his client acted out of heat of passion. "He was scared and frightened, and he only shot as long as he felt he was in danger," Acree said.
But Lilley said that issue is for a judge or jury to determine in Circuit Court. The charge he certified to the grand jury didn't distinguish between first- or second-degree murder.
Wiley, who did not testify Thursday, was allowed to remain free on a $17,500 bond.
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