THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 5, 1994 TAG: 9407300464
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
A Circuit Court judge on Thursday followed a jury's recommendation and sentenced a 27-year-old drug dealer to life in prison for murdering his partner.
Judge William Rutherford sentenced Theodore D. Sullivan to life, plus two years for using a firearm, in the first-degree murder of Hosea Monroe Jr.
Sullivan originally was charged with capital murder, but on June 1 a jury reduced the charge and dropped a robbery count.
Police charged Sullivan with capital murder because he allegedly robbed Monroe of a pager during the killing. The jury did not believe the argument and lowered the charge to first-degree murder.
Monroe was killed March 27, 1993, in Ocean View.
At the time of the slaying, Sullivan and Monroe were partners in small-time drug deals in Ocean View.
Monroe's body was found in an abandoned car in Ocean View in the early hours of March 27. Sullivan was reportedly the last person to see the victim alive, and was seen riding around Ocean View with the victim several hours before the body was found.
KEYWORDS: DRUG ARREST TRIAL SENTENCING
MURDER by CNB