A Hanover County man will spend nearly 30 years in prison for second-degree murder in the brutal stomping death of his disabled, elderly cousin last August. Judge Timothy K. Sanner of Louisa County Circuit Court yesterday suspended 15 years of a 40-year sentence for Jerome Mallory, 42, and tacked on an additional 3½ years from a previously suspended sentence.

Early yesterday morning, a little after midnight, James Brown stepped out of his Petersburg house to walk his brother to his car. He never made it back inside alive. A man with a gun walked up to Brown and his brother and tried to rob them, his sister Jennifer Tucker said. “‘Give it up, give it up, give me everything,‘ he said,“ Tucker said.

A second Richmond man was convicted yesterday for his role in the fatal beating of one man and for beating another man nearly to death the same day. Jose C. Bello-Garcia, 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the March 29 death of Baudilio Lopez-Andres, 52, in an abandoned house along Jefferson Davis Highway, and to malicious wounding for the beating of another man behind the nearby Golden Food Market.

A Richmond man was convicted yesterday for fatally beating one man in an abandoned house and for beating another man nearly to death behind the Golden Food Market the same day. Jose Raul Gaitan, 27, entered an Alford plea to a charge of second-degree murder, meaning he does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him. He also pleaded guilty to malicious wounding.

A Richmond man accused of killing a 21-year-old woman last year has been cleared of wrongdoing. A jury last week acquitted Marvin Jerome Hawkins, 40, of first-degree murder, robbery and other charges in connection with the shooting death of Erica Williams on Oct. 11 in South Richmond. The jury deliberated less than a half-hour at the trial Aug. 6.

Nov. 23 sentencing set for Detavis J. King, 18, who was found guilty yesterday in the 2007 murder of Ryan Matko in Chesterfield County. Jurors deliberated about two hours.

Sixteen-year-old Ryan Matko was slain while trying to “claw and crawl” away from his killer, prosecutors said in opening arguments in the trial of Detavis J. King.

Sixteen-year-old Ryan Matko was slain while trying to “claw and crawl” away from his killer. Shot once in the back, the Thomas Dale High School student fell paralyzed from the waist down. Yet he still tried getting away as Detavis J. King caught up with him, reached down with a .32-caliber revolver and delivered the fatal wound by shooting the teenager in the temple, Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney William W. Davenport said during opening statements yesterday in King’s trial.

Former Navy SEAL trainee Dustin Allen Turner says he has sought forgiveness from the family of a young woman he watched die even as he’s been unable to forgive the actual murderer, a man who may win Turner his release from prison. Cautiously eyeing his freedom after serving 14 years in prison for a Virginia Beach murder of which a court has ruled he shouldn’t have been convicted, Turner said he recognizes the pain of the victim’s family.

Richmond police yesterday continued to try to confirm the identity of a Chinese-food delivery driver who was shot to death during a robbery Monday night. Capt. Paul Kiniry said police were working with State Department officials in an effort to confirm the identity of the victim, a young man of Asian descent. Kiniry also said police were following up on a number of productive tips provided by residents and were interested in receiving more. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers anonymously at (804) 780-1000.

Richmond police were releasing few details yesterday about the killing of a Chinese-food delivery driver in the Whitcomb Court public-housing project in the city’s East End. A male was found shot to death Monday at 11:35 p.m. in the 2400 block of Whitcomb Street, at the intersection of Conrad Street. A law-enforcement source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the victim just had delivered an order of food to a nearby residence and was returning to his car when he was robbed and shot to death.

A Henrico man was stabbed to death during an apparent argument in Richmond earlier this afternoon.

Colin Goddard can relate to the experience of the frightened patrons who ducked behind counters or fled Golden Food Market during a robbery-turned-shootout. Goddard was wounded April 16, 2007, when Seung-Hui Cho burst into a Virginia Tech classroom and opened fire. Now 23 and a Tech graduate, God dard works as an intern at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington.

Short Stuff—tiny, 4-foot-10-inch Brenda Lee Hicks—lay dying by the icy snowbanks at the side of Rogers Street that bitterly cold night, as medics hastened to her side and Richmond patrol officer Michael Gouldman bent close to ask: Who did this to you? “Dominick,“ she whispered. That was all Richmond detectives would know about the death of the 36-year-old woman at the end of what had been a particularly bloody January weekend in 2002.

A man convicted of killing a Mormon missionary in January 2006 is seeking a new trial.