Courts and Crime

Former Staunton River High School teacher and football coach Richard Isaac Witt could face up to 10 years in jail after pleading guilty Tuesday morning to 10 misdemeanor counts of having consensual sexual contact with a minor.

    Sentencing is scheduled for March 1 in what is expected to be a contested hearing from both the defense and prosecution.
    What does Bedford County Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Krantz want citizens to understand about Tuesday’s outcome:

The trial was held in a different courtroom with a jury from a different county. But in the end, the verdict was the same: Guilty.

There’s a different courtroom, but the parties involved in the murder trial of Wesley Earnest are the same: Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Wes Nance is heading up the prosecution; Joseph Sanzone the defense; and Judge James Updike is applying the needed interpretations of the law to the trial as it unfolds.

A first degree murder charge against a 28-year-old Waynesboro man, accused of killing his uncle and dumping the body in the James River, has been certified to the December grand jury in Bedford.