THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190631
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Smithfield High School valedictorian Darrell H. Norton was sentenced to two years in jail Wednesday for his part in a February house burglary.
Norton has been in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail since his July 15 conviction. His attorney, Robert W. Jones Jr., said Norton asked Circuit Judge Rodham T. Delk to impose a jury's recommended two-year sentence early so he could begin a work-release program.
Norton, 18, had been scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 21. A jury convicted Norton July 15 on one count of grand larceny and one count of burglary. Both charges stemmed from the Feb. 3 burglary of a home in Morgart's Beach.
Electronic equipment, a video camera and jewelry were taken, investigators reported. Their total value was estimated at $5,500.
Norton was originally charged with grand larceny and burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, a crime carrying a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. But jurors chose to convict him on the lesser burglary charge.
Norton will be eligible for parole in about six months, Jones said.
Before his conviction, Norton had planned to work during the summer at a landscaping company in Newport News. The work-release program would allow him to keep that job.
In addition to Norton's July 15 conviction, he also pleaded guilty in juvenile court in June to one count of burglary while armed with a deadly weapon and one count of grand larceny. Both charges stem from a Jan. 14 home burglary.
Norton received a one-year suspended sentence on each of those two charges. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Norton
KEYWORDS: ROBBERIES TRIAL SENTENCING by CNB