The Shadow
A jury in Alleghany County Circuit Court Thursday found James Patrick Bryant guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Steven Anthony “Pete” Seams.
The jury returned the verdict after hearing closing arguments in the second day of the trial.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for just more than an hour before returning the verdict at 4:09 p.m.
Second-degree murder in Virginia is defined as murder with malice that is not premeditated. It carries a sentence of five to 40 years.
Bryant will be sentenced Dec. 7. The jury recommended that he serve 30 years in prison. Judge Larry B. Kirksey of Bristol ordered a pre-sentencing report be filed with the court prior to the December hearing.
Bryant’s defense attorney, William A. Parks Jr. of Covington, said Thursday that prior to the sentencing hearing, he plans to file a motion asking Kirksey to overturn the jury’s verdict.
Bryant, 43, wearing a suit and tie, showed no emotion as the jury’s verdict was read aloud by Court Clerk Debbie Byer.
Bryant did not take the witness stand during the trial.
He was charged with first-degree murder for the January stabbing death of Seams. Bryant admitted to police that he stabbed Seams, who was 33, at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 7.
Bryant and Seams were neighbors on East Walnut Street.
On the morning of that stabbing, Bryant had texted Seams about buying some cocaine from him, and the two men met in a garage behind Bryant’s residence in the 300 block of East Walnut.
Bryant told police investigators that the deal turned sour after he was unable to provide $300 in payment for the drugs. Bryant said he intended to “hustle” the drugs from Seams as he had done on previous occasions.
He told police that Seams became agitated when he failed to provide payment for the drugs. He claimed Seams left the garage, only to reappear minutes later holding a knife in his right hand. Bryant told police that he feared for his life and grabbed Seams’ right arm. Bryant said Seams was stabbed in the neck as he acted in self defense.
Seams staggered from the garage and collapsed in an alleyway, where he was found by a neighbor. Seams was transported by the Covington Rescue Squad to LewisGale Hospital- Alleghany and later airlifted to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. He died at the Roanoke hospital around noon. An autopsy report showed that the knife wound punctured a vertebral artery in the left side of Seams’ neck. The knife had a three-inch blade.
But Ed Stein, commonwealth’s attorney for Alleghany County and Covington, said Bryant’s statements to Covington police about the incident were full of inconsistencies and holes.
Testimony indicated that the knife may have belonged to Bryant.
“Mr. Bryant’s story has no value and it is just not reliable,” Stein told the jury.
Stein argued that Bryant stabbed Seams after he refused to provide him with cocaine. A wound on Seams’ arm indicated that he tried to defend himself when Bryant pulled the knife, Stein said.
“When the hustle didn’t work, Mr. Bryant was going to get the drugs some other way and that was through use of the knife,” he said.
Bryant’s live-in girlfriend testified Wednesday that she had seen him with the knife days before the stabbing occurred. Susie Worrell testified that Bryant used the knife to trim tape as he painted a motorcycle in the garage.
Worrell also testified that Bryant came into their home following the stabbing and told her to wash his bloody clothes and hide the knife, along with his boots. After executing a search warrant, police found the knife in a small cooler in the kitchen area. Police found Bryant’s boots in a box beneath a shelf in the basement. Items had been placed on top of the box to help conceal it. The clothes were found in a washing machine.
“If you were attacked by someone else with a knife, you don’t hide the evidence,” Stein argued.
Stein said evidence at the crime scene, including blood on the floor and bloody footprints, did not support Bryant’s assertion that a struggle ensued after he stabbed Seams.
Stein said that Bryant showed no signs of physical injuries, other than a scrape on one his knees and a small cut on his nose.
Stein contended that a feud between Bryant and Seams may have led to the stabbing. Stein said Bryant told Covington Police Officer Juan Roldan “that there had been a long-standing feud between him and Mr. Seams and he put an end to it.”
Stein said Bryant also told Covington police, “If I had to do this again, I would have just shot [Seam’s] ass because it would have been cleaner.”
Parks sought to discredit Worrell’s testimony against his client. Parks noted that following a May 31 preliminary hearing related to the case, Worrell was charged with perjury by falsely swearing an oath. She was also charged with being an accessory to a crime after the fact. Parks said Stein offered to drop the perjury charge against Worrell in return for her truthful testimony at the trial.
“This entire case, the commonwealth has been leading the evidence instead of letting the evidence lead to the truth,” Parks said.
Parks was critical of how the Covington Police Department processed the crime scene. He also accused police officers of putting words into Bryant’s mouth during interviews.
Parks told the jury, “[Mr. Bryant’s] only deliberate act was the act of self defense in an effort to get a knife away from [Mr. Seams].”
In response, Stein said: “There’s no grand conspiracy here. We didn’t put Mr. Bryant in that garage and we didn’t put a knife in his hand.”
Stein also maintained his assertion that Bryant “lied about everything he could to escape punishment for the murder of Steven Seams.”
In the sentencing phase of the trial, Stein told the jury that Bryant has an extensive criminal record that includes a 1988 conviction in Bath County for five counts of having sex with a 14-year-old juvenile. Bryant also has prior convictions of driving under the influence of alcohol, defrauding an insurance company, grand larceny and making a false report to a police officer.
The defense did not provide any witnesses during the trial or sentencing phase. The only prosecution witness during the sentencing phase was Loretta Alverson, who had adopted Seams when he was 15. Seams resided with Alverson at her East Walnut Street home.
Alverson said Seams was the father of five children, with the youngest being two months old when he died.
“He was a good father. He was a good son to me. I miss him. I feel like part of my life has been taken away. I’m dying. I have a rare disease. He was always there to try to help me out. He was a good son,” Alverson said.
“Nobody needs to die this way, nobody,” she said, while recounting her son’s death.
Members of Seams’ family wept while Alverson testified Thursday.
Under cross examination by Parks, Alverson said her son fathered his five children through four different women. He married one of the women, she said.
Seams was convicted of drug offenses in 2007.
Bryant continues to be held without bond at the Alleghany Regional Jail in Covington. He has been incarcerated since his arrest in January.
