A 63-year-old Surry County man was sentenced yesterday to at least 26 years in prison in connection with the shooting death of his estranged girlfriend and the wounding of her adult son in April 2007.
Warren E. Marshall received two sentences of between 13 and 16 ½ years in prison after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and secret assault.
Judge Moses Massey of Surry Superior Court ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.
"If you live that long, you will be 89 years old if you serve the minimum," Massey said after announcing his decision.
Marshall pleaded guilty to shooting Nellie Jane Pruitt and her son, Jeffrey Pyles when they returned to the home the night of April 17, 2008, to pick up some of her belongings.
Marshall and Pruitt had lived together for more than 10 years, said James Yeatts, an assistant district attorney for Surry County.
According to court testimony, Marshall shot Pyles and then used a .22-caliber handgun to kill Pruitt.
Before the sentence was handed down, Pyles told the court what happened after he and his mother entered the house. He said that she had feared for her life. Pyles was shot twice, once in the side and a second time in the back as he fled.
"He should have to spend the rest of his life in prison to think about his heinous acts and die there with the choices he made," Yeatts said of Marshall.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement