Appomattox, February 15, 2013. Christopher Speight today entered negotiated guilty pleas in connection with the shooting deaths of eight people, including four relatives, in January, 2010, and received five life sentences.
The guilty pleas came after both defense and prosecution mental health evaluators concluded that Speight was severely impaired by paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the offenses. Speight had earlier been found mentally incompetent to stand trial, and was hospitalized for treatment of his mental illness. Mr. Speight was represented by the Central Virginia Capital Defender’s Office and by Craig Cooley.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/15/speight-killings-guilty-appomattox/1923839/