Murder or not? Controversy surrounds Danville man's death

On Oct. 14, 2008, 84-year-old William Graham was in his Henry Street home when three people walked in, beat him and robbed him.

A month later, on Nov. 12, 2008, Graham was dead — a death the state Medical Examiner’s Office ruled a homicide on its autopsy report, caused by complications of the blunt force trauma Graham suffered to his torso during the beating.

Three people were charged in the case — but none with murder.

Danville Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Newman said he’s convinced pursuing robbery charges was the correct decision. His predecessor disagrees.

“There was no way you could have misunderstood (the Medical Examiner’s) report,” retired Commonwealth’s Attorney William H. Fuller III said. “It really was a capital murder, done in the performance of a robbery.”

Though initially investigated as a homicide, the case ultimately brought only robbery charges against the suspects — a change that surprised Fuller.

When he left office at the end of 2009, Fuller said, this was one case he had no worries about because he believed that the evidence supported a charge of murder.

The crime

Graham suffered six rib fractures in the assault, and was “hemorrhaging within the lining of the chest cavity near the rib fractures,” according to the autopsy report.

Pathologist Sandra Thomas noted in her report Graham had been self-sufficient until the beating occurred.

“… Until the time of hospitalization, the decedent had been maintaining his baseline condition and was able to perform daily activities of living,” Thomas said. “Injuries the decedent received as a result of physical assault caused his hospitalization, his physical decline, and, eventually, his death.”

On the day of the robbery, neighbor said in a written statement, she saw Graham stagger from his home after the beating. She called for an ambulance. Janice Hairston and other neighbors also said Graham was disoriented and refused to go to the hospital.

But Graham did go to the hospital, and never returned home. He was transferred to a nursing home, where he died.

His niece, Shirley Simms, said Graham was “not right” after the beating. “He was never the same.”

Danville crime figures change

When the Graham case was first investigated it was listed by the police department as a murder — giving Danville a total of 11 murders in 2008.

As of Aug. 18, the police department website still listed 11 homicides for the year 2008 in its crime rate information — but the department’s annual report dropped that number to 10.

Danville Police Chief Philip Broadfoot confirmed on Aug. 26 that the Graham case was dropped from the 2008 homicide list.

Asked by a reporter if the police department’s files on the Graham case could be read, Broadfoot said, “because of the ongoing nature of the case and the investigation; I’m just not at liberty to comment or make it available.”

Broadfoot confirmed the unavailability of the files in a letter dated Aug. 23.

“When the police department finished its investigation in 2009, we gave a copy of the file to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office for prosecution consideration,” Broadfoot said. “We have recently been requested by them to do additional investigation on the case.”

Newman declined to discuss what his office is investigating.

“I can’t say anything about it,” Newman said Aug. 31.

Arrests and trials

A yearlong investigation by the Danville Police Department followed Graham’s death, and on Oct. 9, 2009, Catrena “Trina” Ingram was arrested and charged with robbery. Anthony Wayne Jones was arrested on Oct. 13, 2009, and a third suspect, a juvenile, was also arrested and charged in the case.

The suspects were charged with robbery, not murder.

Ingram pleaded guilty to the robbery. Anthony Jones pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty at his April 2, 2010, trial.

Circuit Court Judge David Melesco went outside the sentencing guidelines in the case — which recommended a sentence of up to four-and-a-half years in prison — and on May 7, 2010, sentenced Ingram and Anthony Jones each to 40 years in prison, with 31 years suspended, making actual time behind bars nine years.

“What they (the guidelines) do not take into account is fact victim severely beaten by three young people,” Melesco wrote in the sentencing guidelines report.

Melesco also sentenced Ingram and Anthony Jones to two years of probation and 15 years of good behavior.

Anthony Jones is appealing his conviction. Ingram cannot appeal. Giving up that option was part of her agreement to enter a guilty plea to the robbery.

The juvenile — Juan Marquis Jones, who was 16 years old at the time of the robbery and 17 at his trial — also pleaded not guilty to the crime when he was tried as an adult July 28.

Newman said Juan Jones was convicted of the robbery and dealt with as a “serious offender.”

Juan Jones will spend the next two years in the care of the Department of Juvenile Justice, Newman said, and then his case will be reviewed. He may be returned to the Department of Juvenile Justice for a length of time up until he turns 21, Newman said, or be turned over to the state’s adult Department of Corrections.

When Juan Jones’ incarceration with the Department of Juvenile Justice ends, he will begin serving a five-year term with the Department of Corrections, Newman said.

Motive for the robbery

In court documents, Ingram said Juan Jones had seen Graham at Quick Check on Worsham Street with “a pocketful of ‘Honeys’ ” — $100 bills.

The medical examiner’s report noted, “Police sources indicate the decedent may have won in excess of $5,000 from the lottery and this may be the motive for the alleged robbery.”

Asked to confirm whether Graham had won money from the state lottery, Broadfoot said on Aug. 26, “That was the information we had at that time and did provide to the M.E.”

No one charged with murder

Asked why there were no murder charges, Newman said he had reviewed the case and is “still convinced pursuing the robbery charges against the three suspects was the correct decision.”

Graham’s niece, Shirley Simms, attended the sentencing of Ingram and Anthony Jones. Simms said Circuit Court Judge David Melesco noted Graham was an older man, who could have been held down rather than beaten.

“The judge asked why they (the suspects) hadn’t been charged with murder,” Simms said.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Newman said Aug. 2 that it was determined that accusing Graham’s attackers of homicide was “improvable beyond a shadow of a doubt in a court of law.”

Fuller, Newman’s former boss, said he was so surprised by the robbery convictions, he went to the courthouse to go through the court files and talked to family members to find some indication of why murder charges were never brought against the suspects.

The former commonwealth’s attorney said he feels the police department “acted in good faith” throughout the investigation, bringing in witness statements about Graham’s robbery and beating that backed up the medical examiner’s report.

On July 29, Steve Murman, the medical examiner’s region administrator, confirmed the cause of death.

“This is still considered a homicide by this office,” Murman said.

Fuller said he is very disappointed with how the case was handled by the commonwealth attorney’s office.

“I know that when I left office this case was being investigated as a murder and robbery,” Fuller said. “In my opinion, this elderly gentleman deserved better justice than to have his murder prosecuted as a robbery rather than as a murder-robbery.”