The man convicted of killing Jay Boothe has received a life sentence and the mercy of the court.
After a three-day trial first-degree murder trial In November 2019, Carl Rich was convicted of voluntary manslaughter by a Greenbrier County Grand Jury. After the conviction, the state filed a motion for recidivism sentencing, which would expand the voluntary manslaughter sentence of three to 15 years to life.
Greenbrier Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dent, who oversaw the trial, recused herself from the case, explaining she previously worked for the prosecution during one of the previous cases filed to be considered for recidivism sentencing. The defense filed for a new trial with Circuit Court Judge Robert Richardson once the case was transferred for sentencing, but the motion was dismissed.
A second trial was then held, not to retry the case, but to identify Rich as the same Carl Rich previously convicted of burglary and delivery of a controlled substance, a needed step for recidivism sentencing. Rich was sentenced after hearing arguments for and against if the first two felony convictions were violent in nature.
“At least two of those three offenses have to be ones that involve violence, or the threat of violence, or substantial harm to someone because they are typically more serious crimes that carry those weighted sentences,” explained defense attorney Grady Ford. “… Essentially the question that Judge Richardson had to rule on was whether or not the recidivist statute could be applied to him. We had to say that two of those cases were not violent and didn’t involve a risk to others. We didn’t contend that with the voluntary manslaughter.”
The first conviction was a felony burglary case in 2004.
“We did argue that the burglary was nonviolent because there was no evidence of another person being in the home and there was some case law that could suggest the court could determine … there was not substantial risk of harm or injury,” Ford noted, also pointing out that there was case law that could work against them in the case as well.
The second conviction dealt with the delivery of cocaine in 2009.
“There’s more recent case law that said a controlled buy of heroin was [a violence offense] because of the inherent violent nature of drugs,” Ford said. “[There is also] the fact that heroin is clandestine from the moment it’s created to the time it is ultimately consumed, whereas, with a pharmaceutical, you could lawfully obtain that. Also [in] a case from Greenbrier County that Judge Richardson decided three or four years ago, he found that heroin did qualify and sentenced Travis Norwood to life.”
Richardson ultimately disagreed with their cases, sentencing Rich to “life in prison with mercy,” meaning he is eligible for parole in 15 years.
“Judge Richardson rejected our cases, saying that the burglary was violent and that our cases were exceptions rather than persuasive arguments,” Ford said. “With the cocaine position, he said this is much more like heroin than a prescription opiate because of the illegal nature from its creation. … We needed to win both of them and ultimately we lost on both of them, and now Carl got sentenced to life, eligible for parole in 15 years. He’s three years into it already.”
Rich also noted some of the ambiguity in the cases has been resolved by the West Virginia Legislature in the last term after a large crime bill was passed.
“The law was recently changed a year ago, so much of this debate is academic because they’ve changed the way that it was to specifically identifying qualifying offenses,” Ford said. “Now there’s a list that says if you have been convicted of these offenses or similar. [The similar offenses provision is for] if you were convicted of robbery in Virginia, it could be used against you here in West Virginia.”
Ford also stated the defense planned to file an appeal.
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