THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 26, 1995 TAG: 9504260457
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short : 29 lines
Former high school star athlete Darron A. Sparrow was sentenced to 18 years in prison Tuesday for shooting a convenience store clerk twice in the chest during a robbery attempt last year.
Circuit Court Judge Von L. Piersall Jr. followed a recommendation by a jury 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 is appealing the case.
Sparrow, 19, was convicted in March 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.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING SENTENCE CONVENIENCE STORE by CNB