Voluntary Manslaughter

Christopher T. Jones was sentenced Thursday in Franklin County (Pa.) Court to a minimum of six years in state prison for the Feb. 25, 2010, shooting death of his wife in their St. Thomas Township, Pa., home. In January, Jones, 31, entered a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter before Judge Shawn D. Meyers. Jones shot his wife, Kristin Runyon, but said he thought she was an intruder in the 5 a.m. darkness. In their statements to the judge, her family argued Jones was angered that his wife of one year wanted a divorce.

A Franklin County (Pa.) Court jury Thursday found Michael Harrigan guilty of voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting his neighbor last spring. Harrigan, 30, was convicted of killing Steven Wetzel, 47, early on May 27, 2010, a first-degree felony that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years. While his family and friends prayed and cried quietly, Harrigan sat emotionless as the verdict was read after four hours of jury deliberation. Tears streamed down his wife's face as she clutched their toddler.

CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. ? A juror in the Raymond Hoak voluntary manslaughter trial in November testified Monday in a hearing that she was the juror who had a note with penalties for possible verdicts written on it. Jurors are not supposed to have penalties for possible verdicts, and Hoak's attorney Paul Taylor is asking Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Steptoe Jr. for a new trial for Hoak because of the discovery of the note. Mary Mauck testified that the note was "for me only" and was not shared with other jurors.

Thumbs up to all of the volunteers, sponsors, rescue squads and the competitors who continue the tradition of the JFK 50, the nation's oldest ultramarathon. The idea was born in 1962, when President John F. Kennedy discovered an executive order from President Theodore Roosevelt, challenging Marine officers to complete 50 miles in 20 hours. According to the JFK Presidential Library, Attorney General Robert Kennedy did finish 50 miles, wearing leather oxford shoes. Thumbs down to all of the Maryland politicians who sought mercy for disgraced former state Sen, Thomas Bromwell, a Baltimore County Democrat.

HAGERSTOWN A Ranson, W.Va., man convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the April 2005 shooting death of Terrance "T.J. " Johnson in Hagerstown was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison by a Washington County Circuit judge. Boni Facio Aramburo, 21, was found guilty Dec. 7, 2005, by a Circuit Court jury of voluntary manslaughter, first-degree assault and a series of other charges, including use of a handgun in a crime of violence. On Thursday, Aramburo leaned into a microphone on the defense table and apologized to the court and to Johnson's family.

HAGERSTOWN pepperb@herald-mail.com After nearly four hours of deliberations Wednesday, a Washington County Circuit Court jury found Boni Facio Aramburo guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the April 5 shooting death of Terrance "T.J. " Johnson in a Noland Village courtyard. The jury of seven men and five women found Aramburo, 21, not guilty of his the serious charge, second-degree murder, in Johnson's death. Johnson was shot once in the heart after he jumped into a fistfight between Aramburo and Ernest Davis, aka "Poncho," shortly before 8 p.m. in Court 4 of the Hagerstown housing complex.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERBSURG, PA. - Insisting the man he shot and killed more than seven years ago was armed, Bryant Jefferson pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter Wednesday and walked out of the Franklin County Courthouse a free man. "They knew who this young man was," Bryant said of the victim, Charles D. Green. "If you want my take on it, I think the area is a lot better off" without him, Jefferson said after the sentencing. Jefferson, 45, of Harrisburg, Pa., was convicted by a jury on Feb. 2, 1999, of voluntary manslaughter in the Oct. 6, 1997, shooting of Green, 22, of 114 E. Washington St. Jefferson was sentenced to seven to 20 years in state prison.

charlestown@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A fight between two former friends that left one of the men dead from a stab wound began when the victim began provoking the other man, according to court testimony Tuesday. Chandra Gray had just broken up with the victim, Justin Lawson, and began dating Thomas Dale Sims, also known as "T.J," according to testimony in Sims' voluntary manslaughter trial that got under way in Berkeley County Circuit Court. Lawson was angry when he saw Sims walking along Church Street in downtown Martinsburg on June 8 last year, according to testimony.