Booze helps fuel killing

STAUNTON — A defense attorney Wednesday argued for the reduction of a murder charge against a Staunton man who authorities say premeditated the stabbing of his roommate and was on the phone while he did it.

After a preliminary hearing marked by emotional testimony from the victim’s fiancee and frank statements by the defendant’s cousin, a judge certified to grand jury a first-degree murder charge against Clarence “Mike” Wiseman Jr., 51.

Staunton police arrested Wiseman on March 9 after finding Charles Everett Moore Jr., 40, dead from stab wounds to the heart in a home the men shared in the 1200 block of West Beverley Street.

Wiseman later admitted to a Staunton detective that he stabbed Moore, according to a warrant, and spoke similarly of the stabbing during a bond hearing.

Public defender Peter Boatner argued that Wiseman’s intoxication on the night of the crime, and an ongoing dispute between him and the victim, do not indicate premeditated murder.

Wiseman’s cousin, Roy Steven Huffman, testified that he received a call at about 9:30 on the night of the crime during which Wiseman said he had been bloodied in a fight. In the background a man said, “It’s not over.”

Huffman said his cousin then said: “I’m going to stab this son of a b—— right now.”

“I just heard [a thud],” Huffman testified, smacking one fist into the other.

Then, he said, he heard his cousin again: “Oh my God, I did stab him, I did, I did, I did ... Roll over Chuck ... Oh my God.”

Wiseman ran from the home and later called his cousin again from Thornrose Cemetery, about a half-block from the home, where police arrested him.

Boatner said the call shows an ongoing fight between the men, and that the stabbing happened in a “heat of passion,” both arguments against a first-degree murder charge.

The men had shared a half-gallon of R&R Canadian Whisky earlier that night at a friend’s home before Moore twice bloodied Wiseman in fights, according to testimony. Later, Staunton police twice responded to the men’s house to break up arguments.

When officers arrived the second time, Wiseman was already armed with a knife, according to a statement he later gave to Staunton police Sgt. Mark Diehl.

Wiseman dropped the knife, but rearmed when officers left, Diehl testified. He stabbed Moore about 15 minutes later while on the phone with his cousin, Diehl said.

Moore’s fiance, Connie Lotts, called 911 despite a protest from Wiseman, who told her he “didn’t mean to do it.” Lotts, through tears, said officers “wouldn’t do nothing” during their first stops at the house.

“[Moore] was passed out in the recliner when you got him,” Lotts said to Wiseman before Boatner asked that her responses be directed to Staunton Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jeffrey Gaines.

Police testified that Moore’s blood was found on Wiseman and a state medical examiner said Moore was stabbed twice in the heart and slashed once on the upper chest.

Wiseman, a convicted rapist, thief and burglar, is being held without bond at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona.