THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 29, 1995 TAG: 9507290267
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER AND LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
Antonio Wiggins, 5 years old, sat quietly in his wheelchair in the aisle between two rows of observers in Circuit Court on Friday.
Exchanging a bashful grin with a young girl sitting on a nearby bench, the boy seemed oblivious that the man who shot him last year and left him paralyzed for life had just been sentenced to 63 years in prison.
``Seeing that young man - this is a sad case,'' Circuit Judge Johnny Morrison said, glancing at Antonio.
It's been a little more than a year since Antonio lost the use of his legs after he was caught in a hail of bullets while inside his Lincoln Park home.
``Every day I think about it,'' his mother, 24-year-old Stacey Wiggins, said after the sentencing. ``Every day it's all around me. I can't not think about it.''
Demetrius L. ``Meatball'' Pettaway, 20, of the 1800 block of Azalea Ave., was convicted last winter of aggravated malicious wounding, attempted murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling and other firearms charges.
On Friday, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Helivi Holland asked for the maximum sentence of life in prison for Pettaway. Years may pass, she said, before anyone knows the full impact the shooting has had on Antonio's life.
``It's one thing to take a life and the person dies,'' Holland said. ``It's another thing to take a life and this person has to live on this earth.''
But public defender Brenda Spry said that while the shooting was unfortunate, Pettaway ``will continue to maintain that he's not responsible for these acts.''
``He was sorry for what happened to Antonio Wiggins,'' she said, but ``he's maintained his innocence throughout.''
While Spry admitted that Pettaway has a troubled past, he recently became a father and could still prove to be a benefit to society.
``Demetrius is a young man - he's 20 years old,'' Spry said. ``Don't take his entire life away from him as well.''
Pettaway and a friend, Kevin A. Sherrod, were arrested and charged with the June 8, 1994, shooting of Antonio. But police later determined that it was Pettaway who had fired the crippling shot that forced the boy to undergo two surgeries - one to save his life and the second to put a metal plate inside his head. The bullet caused bone fragments to lodge in Antonio's brain. Doctors had to flush the fragments out and then reconstruct his skull.
Antonio, who will be 6 in September, has two scars that criss-cross his small head. One scar, from the surgery, runs from ear to ear. The other scar marks the path of the bullet, which traveled from the front to the back of his head.
The shooting occurred after Pettaway and Sherrod had a dispute with Ernest Saunders, the boyfriend of Antonio's mother. The quarrel started at a store in the 2800 block of Columbus Ave. Pettaway, accompanied by Sherrod, followed Saunders to his home in the first block of Lexington Drive and began shooting at the front door and window.
``I was on the front porch,'' Saunders said in an earlier interview. ``He shot at me four times.''
The couple rushed Antonio and his three brothers upstairs, but Antonio managed to run back down while Pettaway continued shooting into the house.
Wiggins said she did not realize her son had been shot until she heard him crying softly and calling for her.
``He was laying on the floor in a puddle of blood,'' she said in an earlier interview after the trial. ``His left arm was bent backwards behind him.
``The detective said the bullet ricocheted off the wall; otherwise he wouldn't have made it,'' Wiggins said. ``It was a hard thing for me. . . . I don't like to talk about it.''
While he is still unable to walk, Antonio has regained limited use of his leg muscles with the help of therapy. With plastic braces on the heels of shoes, he can stand - as long as he holds onto his mother or Saunders for support. Alone, he manages an awkward crawl.
After the shooting, Antonio spent 3 1/2 months at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters and a Richmond rehabilitation center. He is still undergoing therapy.
``I don't think the doctors know (how much he'll recover),'' Wiggins said. ``At first they said he'd never move again.''
Wiggins said she just wanted the man who shot her son brought to justice.
Pettaway's troubles with the law began before he was a teen, Holland said.
At the age of 12, he was convicted of assault and battery on a 9-year-old.
At 13, he was convicted of throwing objects at an occupied dwelling.
At 14, he was convicted of attempted larceny and grand larceny. He was later committed to the Barrett Learning Center.
The next year, he was convicted of auto theft and sent to the Chesapeake Boys Group Home. Later, he was transferred to the Hanover Detention Center.
In November 1990, he was arrested for felonious assault and was on probation at the time of Antonio's shooting.
``He has explored everything the juvenile system has to offer,'' Holland told the judge. ``There's nothing else left.''
As one tragic case of a child victimized by gunfire ended Friday, another began in Newport News. Two men are on trial in the case of a 6-year-old boy who was left paralyzed when he was hit by gunfire in a drive-by shooting while riding his bike. The men, David Hitchcock and Kevin Canady, have pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated malicious wounding, shooting into an occupied vehicle, shooting from a motor vehicle and illegal use of a firearm.
KEYWORDS: SENTENCING SHOOTING by CNB