THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100357
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
A jury on Thursday recommended that former high school star athlete Darron A. Sparrow receive 18 years in prison for shooting a convenience store clerk twice in the chest during a robbery attempt last year.
Jurors recommended that Sparrow receive two years for attempted robbery and eight years for malicious wounding. By law, he received a mandatory eight years on the two firearms charges.
Sparrow, 19, was convicted Wednesday of shooting Walter T. Winstead III on Feb. 28, 1994, in a failed robbery at the Quick Shop Convenient Store in the 2600 block of Columbus Ave.
Winstead was talking to his girlfriend on the telephone when Sparrow came in, pointed the gun and demanded money. Before Winstead could hand over the money, Sparrow shot him twice. One of the bullets lodged an inch from his heart.
Earlier, Sparrow had been tried for two robberies that occurred a week apart in September 1993. One case resulted in hung juries twice 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.
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT SHOOTING INJURIES
ROBBERY TRIAL SENTENCING by CNB