Jury convicts Hanover man of involuntary manslaughter

A Hanover County man once facing life in prison on a charge of murdering his longtime girlfriend will serve no more than 10 years.

A Hanover jury last night found Derek E. Burkhead, 26, guilty of involuntary manslaughter after a two-day trial.

When the verdict from the eight-woman, four-man jury was read at 9:20 last night, Burkhead appeared numb and speechless. Another jury eight months ago found him guilty of second-degree murder in the same case and recommended a 25-year sentence. That verdict was stricken because of a procedural error, resulting in the third mistrial of the case.

The first two mistrials occurred when Burkhead fainted and appeared to have seizures.

Burkhead originally had been charged with first-degree murder in the Sept. 3, 2006, shooting death of Jennifer Willis, 23. The couple lived together for eight years and had a now-6-year-old son together.

Willis' father last night stood outside the darkened courthouse, tears streaming down his face, calling the involuntary-manslaughter verdict an injustice that diminished the seriousness of murder and the life of his daughter.

"I guess her life didn't mean much," Phillip Willis said. "Her death has ruined my life and ruined the life of my family and everyone who loved her.

"My 6-year-old grandson is the only proof that she ever existed."

Involuntary manslaughter typically involves a death that results from a heated moment of passion and that lacks forethought and malice.

Because of the most recent mistrial, the jury was instructed it could find Burkhead either guilty of second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter, or find him innocent.

Burkhead and Jennifer Willis had been childhood sweethearts and had lived in apparent happiness. But their relationship ended after a night of drinking and an early morning shooting that Burkhead said was accidental but that prosecutors described to jurors yesterday as a "cold-blooded murder."

Burkhead wept throughout much of the trial but did not testify. 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.

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. Dressed in nightclothes, she was found sprawled across the width of the couple's bed, her left foot barely touching the floor and her bent right leg at the edge of the bed.

Forensic evidence showed that she had suffered a single gunshot wound from a bullet 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 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 Burkhead had told police during an interrogation on the morning of Sept. 3 that he and Willis were facing each other when the gun, in his left hand, accidentally fired.

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.

Burkhead told police he had no recollection of touching the trigger of the handgun and indicated to police that it was typical of him to keep the weapon under the mattress of the couple's bed when they slept.

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