Man faces 2 life sentences for shooting ex-girlfriend

A Waynesboro man faces two life sentences after pleading guilty Wednesday to shooting his ex-girlfriend in the head.

Sam Wesley Earhart, 43, entered Susan Keith’s Quadrangle Apartments home May 7, threatened to kill her, put a .38 caliber gun to her head and then fired, police said. Keith suffered permanent deafness in one ear, Waynesboro assistant prosecutor Thomas H. Weidner IV said.

Police said they used a stun gun to arrest Earhart after he led them on a two-mile chase, drinking from a beer bottle en route. Earhart later tripped and spat upon a Waynesboro police officer while in custody, Widener told Waynesboro Circuit Court Judge Humes J. Franklin

Earhart pleaded guilty to malicious wounding, burglary with the intent to murder, felony weapons possession, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and assault and battery of a law enforcement officer.

Further charges of eluding of police, driving while under the influence, felonious driving and robbery of the victim’s vehicle were dropped.

Keith was face-down on a sofa when Earhart shot her. The plastic-encased bullet traveled between bone and skin before exiting Keith’s skull. Bullet fragments found in her skull and in the apartment matched bullets loaded in the pistol found alongside Earhart inside the gold Plymouth Acclaim that he drove from the apartment. The car belonged to Keith.

When authorities arrived at the 4th Street apartment at 9:25 a.m. they found her covered in blood but conscious, police said.

Keith initially believed she had been struck in the head, not shot, she testified in Waynesboro General District Court in July. She was treated at Augusta Medical Center and the University of Virginia Medical Center, Widener said.

Police followed Earhart along North Delphine Avenue to Whippoorwill Way.

Earhart’s criminal history dates back to 1988. He has been convicted of assault, burglary, forgery and larceny charges.

Most recently, Earhart was convicted in 2006 in Waynesboro Circuit Court of marijuana distribution and possession of methamphetamines, serving three months in jail.

in addition to being placed on five years of unsupervised probation.