Marquis Antwan Penick, a 19-year-old South Boston youth, was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for the assault and battery of Sheriff's Deputy David Irby in the aftermath of Penick's friend Marquis White's murder trial.
Judge William L. Wellons suspended all but 10 months of Penick's sentence, with credit for time already served.
Commonwealth's Attorney John Greenbacker, who prosecuted White's case, emphasized that courtroom trials are a "delicate process," and that the General Assembly made the crime of assault and battery of law enforcement officers a felony in order to emphasize the gravity of Penick's actions.
Penick, a friend of White's since childhood, was a defense witness at White's August 20 murder trial, and stormed from the courtroom in an agitated state when the guilty verdict was announced.
Judge Leslie M. Osborn, presiding judge at the trial, assigned Irby to the doors at the rear of the courtroom and ordered that Penick not be allowed back in.
A struggle ensued when Penick attempted to re-enter the courtroom, prompting Irby to use pepper spray to control him.
Penick subsequently entered an Alford plea of guilty to the charges at his February bench trial before Judge Wellons, under which Penick did not admit his guilt, but realized prosecution evidence would almost certainly result in a conviction.
In sentencing Penick, Judge Wellons, although saying the court understood why Penick was upset, could not ignore Penick's inability to control his emotions.
"It's very important for the community and society in general that the courts go forward in an orderly manner without disruption," said Judge Wellons.
"It's very important for attorneys to focus on the case at hand. Because of your reaction to the jury's verdict, it totally disrupted the proceedings that day.
"Not only were you affected [by the pepper spray] but everybody in the courtroom was affected...it's far too serious an offense to ignore."
Judge Wellons ordered that Penick's suspended time be conditional on his good behavior for three years following his release, and that Penick serve a one-year probationary period subject to conditions set by the probation department.
The court also ordered Penick to abstain from illegal drugs and to be subjected to random drug tests.
Daniel Sentenced
Harry Thomas Daniel, a 66-year-old Halifax resident, received on Friday a 12-month suspended sentence on each of 19 counts of petty larceny/embezzlement.
According to prosecution evidence presented at Daniel's trial, Daniel had persuaded his friend Robert White to sign a document in the early 1970s allowing Daniel to invest White's 15 percent disability pension into a whole life insurance policy.
After White relocated to Alaska in 1976, Daniel continued to use White's disability payments to pay his insurance premiums, but did not inform White that the amounts of the payments were increasing.
The prosecution stated at Daniel's trial that amounts in excess of $16,500 over and beyond that paid for White's insurance premiums were taken for about a 16-year period.
After Daniel resumed contact with White in the early 1990s, the victim's suspicions were aroused, with a subsequent investigation with the Bureau of Veterans Affairs determining that the majority of White's incoming funds were not being applied to his insurance premiums.
Before his November bench trial, Daniel, through his attorney Charles Cosby, gave a check to the commonwealth for $13,000 to cover part of the amount taken.
The fact that Daniel didn't make the effort to contact White over a period of years to inform him of the excess funds concerned the court.
"You were in a position of trust and had a responsibility to get in touch with Mr. White," said Judge Wellons.
"At that point of time when the disability funds exceeded the premiums, you had to make a decision. An arrangement could have been made with Mr. White.
"If not, you should have set up a separate account until that time you made contact. The time you decided to use White's money for yourself was the time criminal intent was born."
The court considered Daniel's prior clean record, the testimony of several character witnesses and Daniel's prior reimbursement of some of the embezzled funds in giving him "extraordinary consideration" for suspension of his sentence.

Judge Wellons ordered Daniel's suspended sentence be conditional on his good behavior for five years, and that he be subjected to a one-year period of supervised probation.
The court additionally ordered Daniel to perform 100 hours of community service, and that he pay the remainder of his restitution within 60 days.

Samuel Richardson III, 41, of Wilmouth Avenue in South Boston, was arrested Saturday by sheriff's deputies following a trailer and car fire at Lakewood Trailer Park on Daniels Trail.
Richardson faces two felony charges of maliciously burning an unoccupied dwelling house and maliciously defrauding an insurance company by burning an automobile valued over $200.
The South Boston Fire Department responded to the scene Saturday evening at 7:58 p.m. with two vehicles and 12 firefighters.
It took approximately an hour to extinguish the fire, according to a South Boston Fire Department spokesperson.
Estimated damages to the trailer belonging to Debbie Marie Childress Palmer and to a 1985 Pontiac was not available at press time.
Richardson was also charged with a misdemeanor count of trespassing on the property of Kim Moore of Lakewood Trailer Park.
A hearing is scheduled for Richardson today in Halifax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
· Quinten Lavar Carden, 19, of Marion Trail in Halifax, was arrested Friday by sheriff's deputies on two counts of brandishing a firearm and of using profane langauge with the intent to harrass over the telephone.
The offenses allegedly took place on April 16.
· A 41-year-old Halifax man was arrested yesterday by sheriff's deputies on a misdemeanor count of assault and battery.
Stanley Smith, of N. Main Street, was charged with the alleged assault and battery of Erica McNear, which took place on Saturday.
Smith is scheduled to appear in Halifax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court on April 25.
· Luis Carlos Payan-Valles, 27, of Love Shop Trailer Park in South Boston, was arrested Friday on an assault and battery charge.
Valles allegedly assaulted Rhonda Payan Valles on the day of the arrest.
L. Payan-Valees is scheduled to appear in Halifax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court on May 7.
· Joseph N. Davis, 21, of Paradise Road in Alton, was arrested yesterday by sheriff's deputies on a charge of appearing in public while intoxicated.
Davis is scheduled to appear in Halifax County General District Court on August 17.

By Doug Loftis
Something's going down in South Boston but you're not likely to see it.
Over a mile of new plastic sewer lines are replacing the half-century old, deteriorated clay pipe lines with a method known in the construction industry as "trenchless technology."
Who would have ever thought of applying technology to sewer line installation?
Gary Testa admits that he was a skeptic too.
The Tennessean arrived in South Boston last week to supervise the installation for Portland Utilities Construction. The company has been hired to perform the replacement of approximately 6,500 linear feet of sewer lines.
The veteran utilities contractor cut his teeth in the industry at the controls of a backhoe. But once he was introduced to the trenchless method of installing pipe without disturbing the environment, Testa's skepticism ended.
In a single day last week, the Portland Construction team managed to replace almost 350 feet of sewer lines buried deep beneath Washington Avenue. And the evidence of their work was just six squares, where pavement had been removed and replaced with stone.
The method is also referred to as pipebursting, the same technology being used to replace gas and water lines and power and telephone conduit.
A "launch hole" is dug to allow access to the existing sewer line where a steel cable is "snaked" through to an exit location, sometimes 500 feet away.
The cable serves as a winch line and is attached to a bullet-like expander installed into the end of the new PVC replacement pipe. An air line is connected to the expander that enables the tool to pound through the old pipe as it pushes and compacts pipe fragments and surrounding soil to make room for the installation of new pipe simultaneously.
Not only does the pipebursting system replace existing sewer lines but in many instances, the size of new sewer lines are increased. The PVC pipe arrives in 50-foot lengths and is electronically fused together to form an almost seamless connection.
Workers must dig down to perform lateral connections for each residential customer.
Generally, sewer customers are without service for only a few hours while workers make the new connections.
Portland Construction's work will cost the town approximately $500,000, but compared to traditional dig and replace methods, savings are said to be significant.
The new technology is not perfect and on occasion, when the expander strikes an object such as a concrete connection or a water main and causes the winch line to break, workers must dig in, make repairs and start all over.
Portland Utilities advertisers itself as the fourth largest pipebursting contractor in the nation.

Henry Oscar Moore of 2228 Love Shop Road, Halifax, died April 22, 2001 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
He was born in Halifax County, on October 16, 1917 and was 83 years old. He was the son of Oscar Allen Moore and Nancy Reeves Moore and was married to Virginia Fulp Moore.
Mr. Moore was a member Dan River Baptist Church and was a retired farmer and mechanic.
Mr. Moore is survived by his wife, Virginia Fulp Moore, of Halifax; two daughters, Nancy Jane Moore of Chesapeake; Patricia Elizabeth Moore, of Greenville, NC; one son, Jim Allen Moore, of Cluster Springs; one brother, Roy Reeves Moore, of Halifax; one sister, Stella Herndon, Clinton, NC; three grandchildren, Lynn Good Emily Moore and Chris Moore; two great grandchildren, Michael and Brian Good.
He was preceded in death by one sister, Louisa Williams.