THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 12, 1996 TAG: 9601120476
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
A prisoner who disarmed a deputy sheriff in June and eluded police for almost 36 hours was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison during a hearing in Circuit Court.
Terrance L. Agnew pleaded guilty to carjacking, robbery and two counts of use of a firearm. An abduction charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement. Escape charges will be tried in Hampton, where Agnew's attempt at freedom began.
Agnew was sentenced to 20 years apiece on the carjacking and robbery charges, to run concurrently. He also was sentenced to five years on each firearms charge.
On June 21, Agnew was being driven to the Hampton City Jail after a court appearance in Norfolk when he overpowered Deputy Chester V. Haas Jr. and took his .38-caliber revolver, police said.
He drove Haas to Norfolk, leaving the deputy handcuffed to a fence near Military Circle, and took off in the Sheriff's Department's car. He abandoned that car, then robbed a man at gunpoint and drove off in the victim's 1991 silver Eagle Talon.
Agnew was captured by Norfolk police two days later. No one was hurt.
Sheriff's Department officials said Agnew freed himself from handcuffs and leg irons using a key that he kept between the sole and upper part of his basketball shoe. He then reached through a Plexiglas security barrier separating the front seat from the back and took Haas' gun.
Haas, who has died of a heart attack, was freed about 45 minutes later, after a pedestrian heard his calls for help.
KEYWORDS: ESCAPED PRISONER CARJACKING ROBBERY ARREST by CNB