Rasp
Senior Editor
Nigger gets life for hatchet attack on his BCL--says KKK made him do it!
(This is a somewhat long account of everyday life among niggers, but well worth the read. BCLs take note)
Jury delivers life sentence in Cotton trial
55-year old county man found guilty of maliciously assaulting wife with knife, hatchet
A rare Floyd County Circuit Court jury needed only 22 minutes Tuesday to convict Check resident Garry W. Cotton of malicious aggravated assault of his wife with a knife and hatchet and than another 37 minutes to sentence him to life in prison.
The two quick decisions by the 11-man, one-woman jury came after two days of trial for the 55-year-old Cotton, who attacked Cher
yl Cotton on August 10 and left her for dead on the kitchen floor of their Daniels Run home before fleeing and later leading state troopers and Botetourt County sheriff?s deputies on a high-speed chase along Interstate 81.
Cotton, who claimed sleep deprivation and fear for his life led him to the attack that ?just happened,? showed no emotion when the verdicts came down. He slumped in his chair during the sentencing phase of the trial while his estranged wife explained how the attack left her physically and emotionally scarred.
?I?m glad it?s over,? Mrs. Cotton said after the verdicts. ?With God?s help I can move on now.?
Jury trials are rare in Floyd County criminal courts, where most cases end in plea bargains or quick hearings before the judge. The last jury trial, a sexual abuse case more than two years ago, ended in a not-guilty verdict.
Testimony in this trial, however, left no doubt in the minds of the jury, which voted for both the maximum charge and maximum punishment, tac
king a $100,000 fine on the penniless Cotton in addition to the life sentence. Jurors said after the trial that agreement came quickly in both the verdict and the sentence and the only real question was whether or not to impose the fine.
Defense attorney Harrison Schroeder asked the court for a pre-sentencing report and Circuit Judge Ray W. Grubbs granted the motion, delaying the final sentencing until Aug. 8.
In dramatic testimony Monday, a parade of 13 witnesses for the prosecution described the Aug. 10 attack that left Cheryl Cotton gravely wounded from four stab wounds in her back and additional puncture wounds and hatchet inflicted lacerations to her head, chest, arm, hand and fingers.
Mrs. Cotton testified she had just told her husband that she was leaving and wanted out of their three-month marriage because of nonstop fights over money and women and that she was standing with her back to the defendant when he stabbed her so violently with a knife that it bent the blade. Cotton then
continued the attack with a hatchet, she said, stopping only when she screamed ?in the name of Jesus, please stop hurting me.?
Mrs. Cotton said the couple?s fights stemmed from disputes over money and women and intensified when he quit his job as a contract salesman with Omega Meats in Roanoke after he lost his drivers? license.
On the day of the attack, Mrs. Cotton drove her husband to a job interview with Dominos Pizza in Christiansburg. During the drive back, hey argued about what she called his preoccupation with younger women and she said the argument culminated in her threatening to tell his potential new boss that he has ?a problem with younger women.?
Interim Commonwealth?s Attorney Stephanie Murray Shortt showed the jury graphic photos of the crime scene and the massive scars on Mrs. Cotton?s body, including horrific scars from the emergency surgery on her abdomen.
Floyd County Sheriff?s deputies and rescue squad emergency medical technicians described what they called a
?bloody mess? when they arrived at the scene on Daniels Run Road.
?There was blood everywhere,? said EMT Steve Love.
Mrs. Cotton was airlifted to Carillion Roanoke Memorial Hospital under a high-priority ?gold? alert, Trauma surgeon Dr. Jeannette Capella testified the doctors performed considerable surgery to save the victims life, repairing a puncture to her stomach, a collapsed lung, perforated bowels, a rip in her diaphragm and other injuries.
Orthopedic surgeons from the hospital said Mrs. Cotton also suffered a fractured skull, severed tendons and a badly broken finger from the hatchet attacks. She remained hospitalized for nearly three weeks then returned for more surgery because of a lung infection that Dr. Capella called ?life-threatening.?
The doctors testified that Mrs. Cotton?s injuries left her with both external and internal scarring, a potential for future medical complications, including a hernia and bowel blockage, along with a 20-25 percent loss of function in the
middle finger of her left hand.
Cotton, whose driver?s license is suspended, fled the scene in his wife?s car, which was spotted on Interstate 81 in Botetourt County eight hours after the attack. Virginia State Police Sgt. John Noel testified that he followed Cotton?s car for a number of miles first north, then south, on I-81 while other state troopers and Botetourt County sheriff?s deputies moved into place to make a ?felony stop.?
Noel said Cotton tried to elude police, driving at speeds up to 90 mph and the chase continued even after deputies used a nail strip to flatten one of the tires on his car. The chase ended when the car?s engine blew but the officers still faced a knife-waving suspect who kept saying ?You will have to kill me? and ?It?s time to die.? After failed attempts to use chemical sprays, a police dog and police batons to disarm Cotton, Botetourt County Deputy Kenneth Ball fired a bean bag pellet into his chest, which also failed to bring him down. But a second pellet stunned C
otton and he was arrested.
After the arrest, Noel said he found a hatchet, a hunting style knife called a ?Hillbilly Toothpick? and other evidence in the car. He also noticed blood on one of Cotton?s socks and seized that as evidence. A Commonwealth of Virginia lab technician testified that DNA testing on the hatchet and sock showed the blood to be Mrs. Cotton?s.
The trial?s most dramatic moment came when Shortt displayed the bloody hatchet to the jury. Several jurors appeared shocked as Shortt paced in front of the jury box, displaying the weapon. Some looked away as she passed.
Floyd County Sheriff?s investigator Steve Graham testified he interviewed Cotton in the hospital after the arrest and he claimed he remembered nothing about the attack.
Although Cotton entered a plea of ?not guilty,? the defense did not dispute the attack on Mrs. Cotton, contending instead that the charge was too severe for the injuries suffered. Schroeder tried repeatedly over the two days of trial to con
vince Grubbs to reduce the charge from aggravated malicious wounding to the lesser charge of malicious wounding, which did not carry the option of a life sentence. Grubbs denied each attempt along with a motion to set aside the verdict at the end of the trial.
Schroeder did win a favorable ruling on a pre-trial motion to stop Shortt from playing the 911-call tape to the jury.
Shortt rested the prosecution?s case at the end of the first day of trial. On Tuesday, Schroeder put Cotton on the stand as the only defense witness.
The slight defendant, speaking so softly the judge had to often ask him to talk in a louder tone of voice, said he did not remember details of the attack or even the high speed chase. The said the last thing he remembered was arguing with his wife and then waking up in the hospital after his arrest.
Under direct examination by Schroeder and cross examination by Shortt, Cotton admitted he remembered certain details of the attack, including going into a spare bedro
om to get the hatchet and hearing his wife say ?in the name of Jesus, please stop.?
Cotton claimed his marriage was a nonstop history of arguments and threats from his wife, saying she promised to castrate him in his sleep and that he feared she might poison him, making it impossible for him to eat or sleep. He claimed she forced him to quit his job at Omega Meats and would not let him take any job that placed him in the company of other women.
?It was like living 24/7 with a claw hammer,? he said. ?It was very stressful.?
Cotton, an Afro-Americoon, said his (BCL) wife, who is white, threatened him with violence from the Ku Klux Klan and/or her family. In testimony the day before, Mrs. Cotton denied threatening her husband with violence or with retribution from the Klan or her family.
?It just happened,? he said of the attack, repeating the phrase more than 30 times in an hour of testimony of cross examination. He blamed lack of sleep for the attack.
Cotton adm
itted a criminal record that included seven felony convictions. During the sentencing phase of the trial, Shortt introduced his record, including a previous conviction in Florida for attacking another person with a knife, and a sexual assault conviction as well as probation violations for not attending sexual abuse counseling.
In closing arguments, Shortt said the evidence made the case open and shut for the jury. Schroeder argued that Mrs. Cotton?s injuries, while severe, did not meet the criteria for ?permanent impairment? as required in state statutes to sustain the aggravated malicious wounding charge.
?Her scars are not visible,? he said. ?They can be concealed by clothing.?
But the jury didn?t buy the claims of sleep impairment or attempts to minimize the injuries to Cheryl Cotton. Their decisions imposed both the maximum verdict and sentence allowed by law.
The trial, delayed once because Cotton demanded a new attorney, was almost derailed again last Thursday when Cotton fil
ed a new motion to replace Schroeder. In an emergency hearing, Grubbs listened as Cotton gave a long list of complaints about Schroeder.
?Your complaints are the same as those you used to replace your attorney earlier,? Grubbs said. ?I see your petition as a delaying action,? he added before denying the motion and ordering the trial to proceed as scheduled.
Grubbs has the option of suspending part of Cotton?s life sentence after reviewing the pre-sentencing report, although such actions are rare after a jury decides on a verdict and prison term.
Both the hearing last Thursday and two days of trial this week took place under extraordinary security in the circuit room of the county court house. Seven deputies and one state trooper stood watch in the courtroom last Thursday while a half-dozen deputies remained on guard throughout the two days of trial. When the jury delivered its verdict on Cotton?s guilt Tuesday afternoon, two deputies moved in behind the defendant as he stood and two remai
ned stationed behind him throughout the trial.
Cheryl Cotton?s and her family sat silently in the courtroom when the verdicts were read. No one from Cotton?s family in Roanoke attended the trial.
Cotton, who has been held in the New River Valley Jail since his arrest, remains in custody.
(This is a somewhat long account of everyday life among niggers, but well worth the read. BCLs take note)
Jury delivers life sentence in Cotton trial
55-year old county man found guilty of maliciously assaulting wife with knife, hatchet
A rare Floyd County Circuit Court jury needed only 22 minutes Tuesday to convict Check resident Garry W. Cotton of malicious aggravated assault of his wife with a knife and hatchet and than another 37 minutes to sentence him to life in prison.
The two quick decisions by the 11-man, one-woman jury came after two days of trial for the 55-year-old Cotton, who attacked Cher
yl Cotton on August 10 and left her for dead on the kitchen floor of their Daniels Run home before fleeing and later leading state troopers and Botetourt County sheriff?s deputies on a high-speed chase along Interstate 81.
Cotton, who claimed sleep deprivation and fear for his life led him to the attack that ?just happened,? showed no emotion when the verdicts came down. He slumped in his chair during the sentencing phase of the trial while his estranged wife explained how the attack left her physically and emotionally scarred.
?I?m glad it?s over,? Mrs. Cotton said after the verdicts. ?With God?s help I can move on now.?
Jury trials are rare in Floyd County criminal courts, where most cases end in plea bargains or quick hearings before the judge. The last jury trial, a sexual abuse case more than two years ago, ended in a not-guilty verdict.
Testimony in this trial, however, left no doubt in the minds of the jury, which voted for both the maximum charge and maximum punishment, tac
king a $100,000 fine on the penniless Cotton in addition to the life sentence. Jurors said after the trial that agreement came quickly in both the verdict and the sentence and the only real question was whether or not to impose the fine.
Defense attorney Harrison Schroeder asked the court for a pre-sentencing report and Circuit Judge Ray W. Grubbs granted the motion, delaying the final sentencing until Aug. 8.
In dramatic testimony Monday, a parade of 13 witnesses for the prosecution described the Aug. 10 attack that left Cheryl Cotton gravely wounded from four stab wounds in her back and additional puncture wounds and hatchet inflicted lacerations to her head, chest, arm, hand and fingers.
Mrs. Cotton testified she had just told her husband that she was leaving and wanted out of their three-month marriage because of nonstop fights over money and women and that she was standing with her back to the defendant when he stabbed her so violently with a knife that it bent the blade. Cotton then
continued the attack with a hatchet, she said, stopping only when she screamed ?in the name of Jesus, please stop hurting me.?
Mrs. Cotton said the couple?s fights stemmed from disputes over money and women and intensified when he quit his job as a contract salesman with Omega Meats in Roanoke after he lost his drivers? license.
On the day of the attack, Mrs. Cotton drove her husband to a job interview with Dominos Pizza in Christiansburg. During the drive back, hey argued about what she called his preoccupation with younger women and she said the argument culminated in her threatening to tell his potential new boss that he has ?a problem with younger women.?
Interim Commonwealth?s Attorney Stephanie Murray Shortt showed the jury graphic photos of the crime scene and the massive scars on Mrs. Cotton?s body, including horrific scars from the emergency surgery on her abdomen.
Floyd County Sheriff?s deputies and rescue squad emergency medical technicians described what they called a
?bloody mess? when they arrived at the scene on Daniels Run Road.
?There was blood everywhere,? said EMT Steve Love.
Mrs. Cotton was airlifted to Carillion Roanoke Memorial Hospital under a high-priority ?gold? alert, Trauma surgeon Dr. Jeannette Capella testified the doctors performed considerable surgery to save the victims life, repairing a puncture to her stomach, a collapsed lung, perforated bowels, a rip in her diaphragm and other injuries.
Orthopedic surgeons from the hospital said Mrs. Cotton also suffered a fractured skull, severed tendons and a badly broken finger from the hatchet attacks. She remained hospitalized for nearly three weeks then returned for more surgery because of a lung infection that Dr. Capella called ?life-threatening.?
The doctors testified that Mrs. Cotton?s injuries left her with both external and internal scarring, a potential for future medical complications, including a hernia and bowel blockage, along with a 20-25 percent loss of function in the
middle finger of her left hand.
Cotton, whose driver?s license is suspended, fled the scene in his wife?s car, which was spotted on Interstate 81 in Botetourt County eight hours after the attack. Virginia State Police Sgt. John Noel testified that he followed Cotton?s car for a number of miles first north, then south, on I-81 while other state troopers and Botetourt County sheriff?s deputies moved into place to make a ?felony stop.?
Noel said Cotton tried to elude police, driving at speeds up to 90 mph and the chase continued even after deputies used a nail strip to flatten one of the tires on his car. The chase ended when the car?s engine blew but the officers still faced a knife-waving suspect who kept saying ?You will have to kill me? and ?It?s time to die.? After failed attempts to use chemical sprays, a police dog and police batons to disarm Cotton, Botetourt County Deputy Kenneth Ball fired a bean bag pellet into his chest, which also failed to bring him down. But a second pellet stunned C
otton and he was arrested.
After the arrest, Noel said he found a hatchet, a hunting style knife called a ?Hillbilly Toothpick? and other evidence in the car. He also noticed blood on one of Cotton?s socks and seized that as evidence. A Commonwealth of Virginia lab technician testified that DNA testing on the hatchet and sock showed the blood to be Mrs. Cotton?s.
The trial?s most dramatic moment came when Shortt displayed the bloody hatchet to the jury. Several jurors appeared shocked as Shortt paced in front of the jury box, displaying the weapon. Some looked away as she passed.
Floyd County Sheriff?s investigator Steve Graham testified he interviewed Cotton in the hospital after the arrest and he claimed he remembered nothing about the attack.
Although Cotton entered a plea of ?not guilty,? the defense did not dispute the attack on Mrs. Cotton, contending instead that the charge was too severe for the injuries suffered. Schroeder tried repeatedly over the two days of trial to con
vince Grubbs to reduce the charge from aggravated malicious wounding to the lesser charge of malicious wounding, which did not carry the option of a life sentence. Grubbs denied each attempt along with a motion to set aside the verdict at the end of the trial.
Schroeder did win a favorable ruling on a pre-trial motion to stop Shortt from playing the 911-call tape to the jury.
Shortt rested the prosecution?s case at the end of the first day of trial. On Tuesday, Schroeder put Cotton on the stand as the only defense witness.
The slight defendant, speaking so softly the judge had to often ask him to talk in a louder tone of voice, said he did not remember details of the attack or even the high speed chase. The said the last thing he remembered was arguing with his wife and then waking up in the hospital after his arrest.
Under direct examination by Schroeder and cross examination by Shortt, Cotton admitted he remembered certain details of the attack, including going into a spare bedro
om to get the hatchet and hearing his wife say ?in the name of Jesus, please stop.?
Cotton claimed his marriage was a nonstop history of arguments and threats from his wife, saying she promised to castrate him in his sleep and that he feared she might poison him, making it impossible for him to eat or sleep. He claimed she forced him to quit his job at Omega Meats and would not let him take any job that placed him in the company of other women.
?It was like living 24/7 with a claw hammer,? he said. ?It was very stressful.?
Cotton, an Afro-Americoon, said his (BCL) wife, who is white, threatened him with violence from the Ku Klux Klan and/or her family. In testimony the day before, Mrs. Cotton denied threatening her husband with violence or with retribution from the Klan or her family.
?It just happened,? he said of the attack, repeating the phrase more than 30 times in an hour of testimony of cross examination. He blamed lack of sleep for the attack.
Cotton adm
itted a criminal record that included seven felony convictions. During the sentencing phase of the trial, Shortt introduced his record, including a previous conviction in Florida for attacking another person with a knife, and a sexual assault conviction as well as probation violations for not attending sexual abuse counseling.
In closing arguments, Shortt said the evidence made the case open and shut for the jury. Schroeder argued that Mrs. Cotton?s injuries, while severe, did not meet the criteria for ?permanent impairment? as required in state statutes to sustain the aggravated malicious wounding charge.
?Her scars are not visible,? he said. ?They can be concealed by clothing.?
But the jury didn?t buy the claims of sleep impairment or attempts to minimize the injuries to Cheryl Cotton. Their decisions imposed both the maximum verdict and sentence allowed by law.
The trial, delayed once because Cotton demanded a new attorney, was almost derailed again last Thursday when Cotton fil
ed a new motion to replace Schroeder. In an emergency hearing, Grubbs listened as Cotton gave a long list of complaints about Schroeder.
?Your complaints are the same as those you used to replace your attorney earlier,? Grubbs said. ?I see your petition as a delaying action,? he added before denying the motion and ordering the trial to proceed as scheduled.
Grubbs has the option of suspending part of Cotton?s life sentence after reviewing the pre-sentencing report, although such actions are rare after a jury decides on a verdict and prison term.
Both the hearing last Thursday and two days of trial this week took place under extraordinary security in the circuit room of the county court house. Seven deputies and one state trooper stood watch in the courtroom last Thursday while a half-dozen deputies remained on guard throughout the two days of trial. When the jury delivered its verdict on Cotton?s guilt Tuesday afternoon, two deputies moved in behind the defendant as he stood and two remai
ned stationed behind him throughout the trial.
Cheryl Cotton?s and her family sat silently in the courtroom when the verdicts were read. No one from Cotton?s family in Roanoke attended the trial.
Cotton, who has been held in the New River Valley Jail since his arrest, remains in custody.