Murder trial for former Lynchburg school administrator postponed

By Chris Dumond

Published: November 25, 2008

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BEDFORD — The trial for a former Lynchburg school administrator accused of killing his wife last year in her Forest home has been postponed a second time, according to court records.

Wesley Earnest, 38, of Moneta, is charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the Dec. 19 slaying of his estranged wife, Jocelyn Earnest. Prosecutors say he staged the scene to appear as if she had committed suicide.

Earnest was first scheduled to go to trial July 29. That was postponed until Jan. 13. After delays in getting computer evidence pushed back pretrial hearings in October and earlier this month, the trial is now postponed until June 3.

“We’re dealing with computers and e-mails and dealing with a very large company such as the one the victim worked for and it’s taking a very long time,” Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Wes Nance said Tuesday.

Jocelyn Earnest worked for Genworth in Lynchburg.

Wesley Earnest’s lawyer, Joseph Sanzone, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but has repeatedly cited the computer evidence as the reason for the delays of the October and November hearings in other interviews.

Wesley Earnest, who has a home in Moneta, has been free on bond since June 5 under the conditions that he does not move out of Virginia, contact his wife’s family or anyone involved in the prosecution’s case or trespass on the grounds of Chesapeake Public Schools.

He was working as an assistant principal at Great Bridge High School there when he was arrested in February. He earlier held the same position at Heritage High School and worked for Bedford County Public Schools in the late 1990s.

At his preliminary hearing in August, prosecutors accused him of ambushing his wife as she came home from a counseling session where she discussed the pending settlement of their divorce, according to testimony. Nance and Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Krantz have said the protracted and bitter divorce was the motive in the slaying.

In that hearing, witnesses testified a note was found near the body and that Wesley Earnest’s fingerprints were found on the paper.

Whether Jocelyn Earnest kept the revolver used in her slaying after she and her husband separated was disputed at that hearing, but witnesses also testified that they discovered the box for the pistol at Wesley Earnest’s girlfriend’s home in Rustburg.