THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607240359
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 42 lines
Prenell Randolph Jr. is expected to plead guilty today to voluntary manslaughter and a weapon charge in the shooting death of his younger brother last year.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney F. Jefferson James and defense attorney Kenneth Melvin said Randolph will enter the guilty pleas this morning in Circuit Court. He was scheduled to be tried by Judge Westbrook J. Parker for second-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony in the slaying of his brother, Wayne T. Randolph, 28.
Parker is expected to set a sentencing date after a pre-sentence report is completed.
Melvin, a Portsmouth lawyer retained by Randolph, would not say why his client decided to plead guilty to the lesser charge.
Randolph, 30, has been free on bail since Nov. 28 just after his arrest. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on the manslaughter charge, Melvin said. He could have been sentenced to up to 40 years in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. He also faces a mandatory three years on the weapon charge.
Wayne Randolph was shot twice in the chest with a large-caliber handgun after an argument at the home the men shared with their mother and an older brother in the Jericho section of the city, police said after the shooting. He died at the scene.
Just after the shooting on Nov. 26, Prenell Randolph left the North Capitol Street house, police said, but turned himself in at police headquarters the next day.
Of the city's four homicides in 1995, three involved a brother killing his brother.
In February, Jimmy Lee White was convicted of second degree murder and using a knife in the slaying of his younger brother, David White, in their home last summer. And in May, Wylie ``Junie'' Holloman was convicted of first-degree murder and using a firearm in the death of his younger brother, David Holloman, who died 12 days after being shot Sept. 2 with a 12-gauge shotgun.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING DOMESTIC DISPUTE by CNB