|
January 5, 2004
Mark Anthony Calloway Pleads Guilty in Robbery and Aggravated Malicious Wounding Case
On Monday, January 5, 2004, Mark Anthony Calloway, age 25, of Lynchburg pled guilty to the September 6, 2003 robbery and the aggravated malicious wounding of Lewis Helm. Circuit Court Judge J. Leyburn Mosby, Jr. found Calloway guilty and ordered a pre-sentence and victim impact report. Calloway will be sentenced on Feb. 20, 2004 at 9:30 a.m. Robbery is punishable by five years to life in the penitentiary; aggravated malicious wounding is punishable by twenty years to life in the penitentiary.
Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Michael R. Doucette presented the evidence for the Commonwealth. Around noon on September 6, Mr. Helm, age 59, was making some repairs on a house at Tenth and Taylor Streets when Calloway approached him and asked for a dollar. When Helm told Calloway that he did not have a dollar, Calloway kicked Helm in the stomach and then smashed Helm in the head with a brick. Calloway then grabbed Helm's wallet and fled.
Helm suffered potentially life-threatening injuries of a fractured skull and some bruising of the brain. Initially, Helm also suffered a total loss of hearing, but he has now regained some limited hearing in one ear. Helm has also suffered some balance problems that significantly limit his ability to work.
Calloway was arrested after he turned himself in to the Lynchburg Police Department on the night of September 6. Calloway told Investigator Jerry Hise that after he was released from incarceration for a drug charge on July 3, 2003, he returned to the use of crack cocaine. He admitted that he beat and robbed Mr. Helm in order to obtain money for drugs.
Also on January 5, Calloway pled guilty to burglarizing five businesses on Old Forest Road on the night of September 2-3, 2003. Calloway admitted breaking into the Subway, Monro Muffler, Hair Creation, The Basket Case, and J.T. McWane's restaurant in order to steal money to buy drugs. In return for his pleas of guilty to the burglaries, related larceny charges were dismissed. Each of the burglary charges carries a range of punishment of one year to twenty years in the penitentiary. Calloway will also be sentenced on February 20 for these offenses.
### |