ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
Her screams punched a hole in the silence of the courtroom.
Through the crackle and hiss of the taped 911 call, Torina Lynn Wright eventually grew silent, and her lover, Joe Gardner Bolling, grew more frantic, begging dispatchers to send help.
"She come in the house talking a whole lot of stuff," Bolling breathlessly told a dispatcher on the tape. "I did pull the gun, and it went off. But I didn't mean to shoot her or nothing."
Whether he meant to shoot is a crucial issue in Bolling's murder trial, which began Thursday in Bedford County Circuit Court. The trial resumes this morning.
In opening statements, Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Krantz said Bolling, fueled by alcohol and rage, gunned down Wright in a way that was anything but a mistake.
The defense, however, claimed that last June's shooting was an accident, caused by a faulty gun with a hair trigger. To back up their claims, they said, they'll use the testimony of Wright herself.
Bolling's attorney, Philip Baker, said he will introduce into evidence a statement made by Wright as she died, in which she said the shooting was accidental.
On the day of the shooting, Bolling, 48, arrived at his home on Virginia 718 after watching auto races in Greensboro, N.C. Witnesses said he had been drinking most of the day and was complaining about wanting to get Wright out of his house, Krantz said.
"We will show that the anger and frustration and the attitude was already starting to form that morning," Krantz said.
Shortly after Bolling got home, he and Wright, 27, started arguing about cards he had received from the mother of his older children. Bolling and Wright had been living together two years and also had children of their own, ages 6 and 8.
Bolling told Wright to get out of the house, and she did, but she returned soon after. They argued again, and according to a statement Bolling gave police, he reached up into a linen closet for a gun.
There were two guns in the closet, a .44-caliber Magnum that worked and a
What happened after that is a source of disagreement between the prosecution and defense. Krantz said Bolling aimed the gun at Wright's back and shot her in the buttocks, piercing her abdomen and severing a major artery, which caused her to bleed to death.
The gun could not be fired without someone cocking it and pulling the trigger, he said.
However, Baker, the defense attorney, said the gun misfired as Bolling pulled it down from the shelf, not knowing it was already cocked and could be triggered with only a slight amount of pressure.
As proof of Bolling's intention not to shoot Wright but only to warn her, Baker pointed out Bolling's cooperation with authorities and how he tried to save Wright's life by applying pressure to her wounds, as police dispatchers directed.
"The commonwealth calls it murder, and I call it an accident," Baker said. Bolling "is responsible [for Wright's death] in the same way a driver in an unfortunate auto accident, distracted by the sun, or a child in the back seat, runs their wheels off the road and kills someone.
"An accident here with a firearm is no different from an auto accident that results in a death."
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB