THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407100074
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
A judge has certified a capital murder charge against a man accused of killing a Newport News police officer during a traffic stop.
Larry Bland was one of three Peninsula police officers killed this year. His assailant, if convicted, could be sent to the electric chair.
According to testimony presented Friday at a preliminary hearing, the gun used to kill the officer was bought May 12 by Vinston Wright for $40. He gave to gun to Maurice Boyd and asked him to hold it while he was with a prostitute.
Before dawn on May 13, Boyd, 29, used the gun to shoot Bland, prosecutors said.
After hearing testimony in General District Court, Judge Joan B. Morris ruled there was enough evidence to send a charge of capital murder against Boyd to the grand jury.
Bland, 48, was shot in the head three times after pulling over a car in the early morning hours of May 13. Police said Boyd, the car's driver, shot Bland after being placed in the back of Bland's patrol car.
Police said that shortly after Bland called in the traffic stop, he requested backup. The first officer to arrive was Carol Schindler, another patrol officer and Bland's fiancee.
Schindler said she had taken one step toward Bland and Boyd's cars when she heard gunfire. When she reached Bland's car, she saw Bland inside with blood all over his face.
After spotting two people in the suspect's car, Schindler kept her gun trained on them until other officers arrived. Boyd was arrested about a half-mile from the shooting scene.
Police found seven cartridge cases from a .380-caliber gun in and around Bland's car.
The next day, police said, Boyd confessed. Detective L.L. Sheppard testified Friday that Boyd told him: ``I panicked. And I shot him.''
In addition to capital murder, charges of using a gun in the commission of a felony and possessing a gun while being a convicted felon were sent to the grand jury.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING NEWPORT NEWS POLICE
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