Two people pleaded no contest Tuesday in connection to a fatal Wise County cemetery shooting which happened in February 2020.
According to Commonwealth's Attorney Chuck Slemp, Jarrod Ray Hash, age 40, of Norton, and Marsahe Noell Absher, age 20, of Norton, pleaded no contest and were each sentenced in Wise County Circuit Court.
Hash was convicted of aggravated malicious wounding and felony reckless handling of a firearm resulting in serious injury. Hash must serve four years in prison.
Absher was convicted of abduction, conspiracy to abduct, and conspiracy to commit aggravated malicious wounding. Absher must serve five years in prison.
Authorities said on February 2 or the early morning of February 3, multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a fatal shooting in the Stephens community near Wise. Officers found Marshae Noell Absher, who was shot in the back, in a car parked in a cemetery on Limestone Road behind the Stephens Chapel Freewill Baptist Church. Another individual, 39-year-old Christopher Dale Stevens was found dead near Absher’s car with multiple gunshot wounds. A third person, 35-year-old William Mattias Mills, was found in the woods nearby with multiple gunshot wounds.
During the investigation, officers learned that Absher used deception to abduct Mills. She drove him to the church cemetery with a plan that Stevens and Hash would confront and attack him. There, someone opened Absher’s vehicle door and began shooting at Mills. Hash later admitted that he used a firearm to shoot at Mills, hitting him multiple times. Mills survived, but Stevens was killed.
“Unfortunately, Virginia law does not allow us to seek murder or manslaughter charges in this case. Here, the evidence shows that Absher, Hash, and Stevens conspired to attack another individual and that criminal conspiracy resulted in the death of one of the co-conspirators," Commonwealth’s Attorney Chuck Slemp said. "Under the law of our Commonwealth, an individual cannot be convicted of accidentally killing any co-conspirator of an ongoing illegal act or scheme. Our prayers are with the family of Mr. Stevens for their unimaginable loss and grief. I pray that they take comfort in knowing that we did everything we could to hold the offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
“I appreciate all the hard work from the investigators at my department, the Virginia State Police, and assistance of the Norton City Police Department and the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office," Wise County Sheriff Grant Kilgore said. "I am so proud that their hard work helped prevent further loss of life and helped uncover the truth about what happened that night. We are thankful to see that justice was served and the offenders are held accountable.”