THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 9, 1995 TAG: 9503090435
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Darron A. Sparrow, a former high school star athlete, shot a convenience store clerk twice in the chest during a robbery attempt last year, a jury found on Wednesday.
One of the bullets missed the victim's heart by an inch.
The jurors deliberated about two hours before convicting Sparrow, 19, of malicious wounding, attempted robbery and two firearms charges.
After the verdict, Sparrow turned to his mother, his brother Aaron and other family members and threw up his hands.
Sparrow faces up to 20 years for the wounding, up to 10 for the attempted robbery, and a mandatory eight years for the firearms convictions.
The jury will recommend a sentence today.
``No matter how much time he gets, these scars will be with me the rest of my life,'' the victim, Walter T. Winstead III, 22, said after the verdict. ``It's never going to be over. Every time I look in the mirror I see these scars and I think of Darron Sparrow.''
Winstead told jurors he could not forget the gunman who walked into the Quick Shop Convenient Store in the 2600 block of Columbus Ave. on Feb. 28, 1994, and fired before Winstead could hand over money the gunman demanded. He recognized Sparrow despite the mask that partially covered his face.
``I knew the eyes I looked into,'' Winstead testified. ``I knew who shot me. . . . I could see him, his whole chin, eyes, eyebrows.''
Winstead told jurors that Sparrow was a regular customer who had come in about four times a week for six months before the shooting. Sparrow had a soft, distinctive voice, he said.
About 11 on the night of the robbery, Winstead said, he heard a man tell his co-worker to get down, and he looked up to see a man with a skullcap pulled down over his face. The gunman then pointed the gun at Winstead's chest.
``He told me to get the f--- off the phone,'' Winstead testified. ``I was looking in his face the whole time he was making the demands.''
Sparrow told him to open the cash drawer but shot him before he could comply, Winstead said.
At the other end of the telephone line was Amina Matheny, 23, Winstead's girlfriend and the mother of his 2-year-old son.
Outside the courtroom Wednesday, she described what she heard.
Someone told Winstead to get off the phone. About five seconds later, she heard a commotion. It sounded like Winstead threw the phone. She heard a gunshot. Then Winstead made a sound like he was in pain. She screamed his name.
``I just knew he had been shot,'' she said. ``I felt he was dead, honestly.''
Then she heard a second gunshot.
She hung up and tried to call him back. Then she dialed 911. She left her mother, jumped in her car and drove from her home in Virginia Beach to the store near Portsmouth's Lincoln Park.
``I ran through the yellow tape,'' she said. ``I told (the police) I was his girlfriend and asked if anyone had been shot. I was looking for a body.''
She soon learned that Winstead was in stable condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. He had locked the doors to the store and driven himself there.
Sparrow testified briefly on his own behalf Wednesday, denying any role in the crimes. He also said he could not remember where he was that night.
The trial came down to Sparrow's word against Winstead's.
``There's no question in his mind who almost killed him just to get a few bucks from the store he worked for,'' said Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Will H. Jamerson.
William R. Brown, Sparrow's court-appointed attorney, said: ``I'm not calling Mr. Winstead a liar. All I'm saying is that people make mistakes.''
Earlier, Sparrow had been tried for two robberies that occurred a week apart in September 1993. One case resulted in two hung juries and will not be pursued. The other ended in a hung jury and will be retried in June. Sparrow was free on bond when Winstead was shot.
Sparrow's brother Aaron is a star quarterback at Norfolk State University.
Darron Sparrow was a quarterback at Portsmouth's Woodrow Wilson High School and won a state championship as a junior. He also starred on the baseball team. ILLUSTRATION: Darron A. Sparrow was a quarterback at Woodrow Wilson High
School.
KEYWORDS: TRIAL VERDICT ROBBERY SHOOTING by CNB