UPDATE: Jury recommends 10 years for Hanover man in girlfriend’s shooting death

An eight-woman, four-man Hanover County jury found Derek E. Burkhead, 26, guilty of involuntary manslaughter tonight in the shooting death of his girlfriend.

The panel recommended that he serve 10 years in prison. Hanover Circuit Judge J. Overton Harris will set a formal sentencing date later.

This week's trial was the fourth for Burkhead in the case.

Two previous mistrials in the case occurred when Burkhead fainted and appeared to have seizures. A third trial, in February, resulted in a second-degree murder verdict, but the decision was turned aside because the jury mistakenly received materials from a previous trial during the deliberations.

Burkhead did not testify this week, and his lawyer, John Honey, called only two witnesses in a case that centered on Honey's allegations of shoddy police work and a prosecutor's charge of a spiteful, angry murder.

Burkhead had told police that the shooting of his long-time girlfriend, 23-year-old Jennifer Willis, in the early morning hours of Sept. 3, 2006, was accidental.

Text messages exchanged between Willis and Burkhead in the hours before her death showed that she was angered by his absence and carousing at a Mechanicsville bar.

Willis' body was discovered by rescue workers after 911 calls from Burkhead and his brother. Forensic evidence showed that she had suffered a single gunshot wound fired at a sharp angle into the crown of her head from behind.

Burkhead's lawyer argued to the jury that Willis died during a struggle over the 9 mm handgun, with Willis in possession of the weapon and pulling it away from Burkhead.

He said that forensic evidence showing that gunpowder residue was more prevalent on her hands than on his also showed that she, not Burkhead, was in possession of the gun at the time it was accidentally fired.

But Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Hoehl recalled statements from Burkhead that he had wiped his hands with a towel after the shooting, and she ridiculed the notion that Burkhead had acted appropriately in the minutes and hours after Willis' death.

She pointedly told the jury that Willis hung up during a 911 call when an operator asked for details of what happened. As much as 17 minutes elapsed between the estimated time of the shooting and the 911 calls from the couple's Cold Harbor Road home, Hoehl said.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .