Verdict

A West Virginia man who faces life in prison for fatally beating William Leonard Messersmith during a robbery Dec. 5, 2000, will find out next month if he will receive the possibility of parole. After deliberating for about three hours Thursday and 90 minutes Friday morning, a Washington County Circuit Court jury found Saul Joseph Stanley guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, false imprisonment, felony murder, first-degree assault, robbery and theft more than $500.

By KERRY LYNN FRALEY / Staff Writer photo: JOE CROCETTA / staff photographer MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A jury this morning found Michael Newell guilty of felony murder without recommendation of mercy in the death of his 7-year-old niece last fall. Newell, 40, of Martinsburg, faces a mandatory life sentence without parole in the kidnapping and death of Jessica Newell, who disappeared from Pikeside Bowl on Sept. 18, 1997. Her body was found two days later in a remote area of North Mountain.

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. - After jurors struggled for three days between a possible verdict of voluntary manslaughter and not guilty, they finally told a judge they were hopelessly deadlocked. The murder trial of Raymond Hoak was declared a mistrial late Tuesday afternoon by Jefferson County Circuit Judge Thomas W. Steptoe Jr. The jury of seven men and five women returned to chambers Tuesday morning for deliberations after telling Steptoe late Monday afternoon that they were having trouble reaching a verdict in the case.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - After Miguel Delgado was found guilty of first-degree murder and ordered to serve life in prison without a chance for parole, family members of Robyn Renee Richardson said Monday they can rest easier. And they are not the only ones. "She can finally rest peacefully," Autumn Thompson said of Richardson, her sister. "We're very happy we're finally getting some closure. It's a relief. " On Monday afternoon a jury of seven men and five women found Delgado guilty of strangling and stabbing Richardson 23 times on June 15, 2001.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Only a handful of people were in the Berkeley County Circuit Courtroom at 9:20 a.m. Thursday, when the buzzer sounded indicating jurors had reached a verdict in the trial of Michael Newell for the murder of his 7-year-old niece, Jessica Newell. By the time the verdict - guilty of felony murder without recommendation of mercy - was read just before 10 a.m., the courtroom was close to full, with more than a dozen police officers posted around the spectator area.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Raymond Hoak's conviction on a voluntary manslaughter charge Tuesday morning in Jefferson County Circuit Court was later called into question after a bailiff found an unusual note mixed in with other notes jurors used during the trial. The note was on a white piece of paper with penalties for second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter on it, according to lawyers in the case. The note also appeared to contain information pertaining to a legal issue that was not covered in presiding 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Thomas W. Steptoe Jr.'s pre-verdict instructions to the jury, the lawyers said.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - After a judge read a jury's verdict aloud in court Friday evening, in which Brandon D. Green was found guilty of kidnapping and four other charges, one woman stood up angrily. "You're wrong," the woman yelled, pointing toward jurors. "You're wrong. You know that, don't you?" Friends and bailiffs quickly escorted her out of the room. Jurors found Green, 22, of Martinsburg, guilty of kidnapping, grand larceny, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit grand larceny and battery.

HAGERSTOWN The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has reversed the conviction of a Hagerstown man found guilty of first-degree felony murder in Washington County Circuit Court in January 2005 and granted him a new trial. Tyshawn Jones, 25, was convicted of murder in the March 14, 2004, shooting death of Jonathan M. Dennis of Waynesboro, Pa., who was struck by a single bullet after an armed robbery outside an apartment at Washington Gardens Apartments in Hagerstown. Jones was sentenced by Circuit Judge John H. McDowell to serve life plus 30 years in state prison.