Panel Upholds Earnest Sentence

A three-judge panel of the Virginia Court of Appeals is upholding the conviction and life sentence given to a former Bedford County school teacher found guilty of the 2007 murder of his estranged wife. Lawyers for Wesley Earnest said it was wrong for a judge to prevent testimony from an expert witness who could bring the state’s fingerprint analysis into question. Earnest not only shot his wife, Jocelyn, to death, but tried to make it appear as to be a suicide.