HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - The father of a slain West Virginia woman has been convicted of shooting at people connected to his daughter’s murder case.
Gregory Allen Adkins, 65, of Branchland, entered a Kennedy plea to two counts of wanton endangerment before Cabell Circuit Judge Paul T. Farrell on Tuesday, The Herald-Dispatch reported. A Kennedy plea allows a defendant to accept punishment for a crime without having to admit guilt.
Adkins was sentenced to three years in prison and five years of home confinement, with credit for time served, the news outlet reported. He had originally been charged with seven counts of wanton endangerment, which calls for up to five years in prison per count.
Adkins is the father of Kayla Adkins, 26. Corey Chapman has pleaded guilty to strangling Kayla Adkins during a 2016 argument about their relationship status, before dumping her body in a trough behind an abandoned barn.
More than a year after his daughter’s killing, Gregory Adkins was accused of shooting into the home of Chapman’s wife and at a vehicle near the office of Chapman’s defense attorneys, investigators have said. A makeshift explosive device was also left on the attorneys’ porch, then-Huntington Police detective Chris Sperry previously testified.
Adkins’ truck was pictured in security video from the scene and a disguise and gunshot residue were found inside, Lincoln County Prosecutor James Gabehart said during proceedings.
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