THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130497
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Curtis Brandon, 16, grew impatient with pizza deliveryman James Murray for taking too long to hand over his wallet. So he fired a .22-caliber bullet into Murray's heart.
Moments later, Brandon and two accomplices sat eating the pizza Murray was delivering, watching from a window at the Regency Apartments as rescue workers struggled to save Murray's life.
Wednesday, nearly a year after the shooting in the 2000 block of Queen Mary Court, Brandon pleaded guilty to malicious wounding, robbery and use of a firearm in a plea agreement that provided only that he receive a sentence of less than life.
If the trauma team at Virginia Beach General Hospital had not saved Murray's life, at one point restarting his heart on the operating table, Brandon could have faced a capital murder charge.
``Mr. Murray was shot through the heart and died on the operating table,'' prosecutor Shep Wainger said Wednesday. ``The surgeons brought him back to life.''
Murray testified in the trial of one of Brandon's co-defendants that after he was shot, he felt a burning sensation in his stomach and started screaming for help.
``I seen a little bit of vision of them running away from me . . . and then I was climbing the walls to get help and knocking on the hall doors and then finally an ambulance showed up,'' he testified.
Brandon bragged to friends that he shot Murray ``because he was taking too long to get the money out,'' Wainger said. Wainger said Brandon stayed at his girlfriend's apartment until 1 a.m., watching from the window as the investigation unfolded.
Murray, 37, will testify Monday at Brandon's sentencing. He is still undergoing psychological therapy. Brandon's juvenile record and information about other convictions will be considered by the judge.
Already convicted of robbing another pizza deliveryman a week before the robbery and shooting of Murray, Brandon faces two more trials - one for allegedly robbing a third pizza deliveryman and another for allegedly robbing a taxi driver. The robberies spanned a two-week period last October.
During an earlier hearing, Wainger called Brandon ``the most dangerous man in Virginia Beach.'' Brandon's attorney, Theresa Berry, said the teenager could go to jail for the rest of his life. Brandon will turn 17 on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, one of Brandon's two co-defendants in the case, Terrance Paige, became a fugitive Wednesday when he did not show up for a court hearing. Charged as an accomplice in the Murray robbery and shooting, Paige, 18, is scheduled for trial on Monday. Warrants for his arrest were issued Wednesday and his $10,000 bond was revoked.
A third co-defendant, Jose Blake, was sentenced last week in the Murray case and in the robbery of the cab driver Brandon is also accused of robbing. Blake was sentenced to 50 years for robbing Murray and five years for use of a firearm. Thirty years were suspended, leaving 25 years to serve.
Blake also received a 33-year sentence in the cab driver robbery, with 21 years suspended, leaving 12 years to serve. The total of the two sentences leaves him with 36 years to serve.
The sentences will run consecutively.
All three teenagers, who were juveniles when the crimes occurred, were certified as adults. Court papers called Blake ``a danger to the person and property of others'' and said Paige ``presents a serious threat to the life and safety of others.'' All three had previous run-ins with the law.
Blake and Paige attended First Colonial High School. Brandon attended Kellam High School.
According to evidence in the Murray case, the three had first called a Pizza Hut restaurant and placed an order for a pizza, then went to the parking lot to wait.
Murray, who delivered for Chanello's, had the misfortune to arrive first.
``The defendant pointed a gun at Murray's chest,'' prosecutor Wainger said Wednesday. ``Murray gave him $20 in loose bills from his pocket. Then Brandon demanded his wallet. Murray told him he had no money. Brandon said he was lying. He could see his fat bulging wallet. When Murray did not comply, Brandon shot him at short range.''
The bullet ripped through his heart, diaphragm and liver, lodging behind his liver.
On Wednesday, Brandon's mother wiped tears from her cheek as Wainger spoke and cried in the hallway outside the courtroom after her son was taken away. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
Curtis Brandon, 16, and two accomplices watched rescue workers
struggle to save a pizza deliveryman's life.
KEYWORDS: TRIAL GUILTY PLEA MALICIOUS WOUNDING by CNB