Convicted killer gets five years in Amherst jailhouse beating

An Amherst man serving a 63-year sentence for murder was sentenced this morning to another five years for beating a fellow inmate.

By: Chris Dumond | Lynchburg News and Advance
Published: February 13, 2009

Related:
Killer gets 63 years; accomplice pleads Dec. 10, 2008

AMHERST — A convicted murderer will spend an extra five years in prison after pleading guilty Friday in a jailhouse beating where he sent another inmate to the hospital.

Timothy Wright Jr., 22, pleaded guilty to unlawfully wounding 27-year-old Donnie Seamster in an Aug. 18 beating at the Amherst County jail. Circuit Court Judge Michael Gamble sentenced Wright to the maxi-mum term under the law.

Seamster and Wright shared a cellblock in the jail while Wright was awaiting an October trial on murder and various gun charges.

During a preliminary hearing in this case last fall, prosecutors played video from the jail that showed Wright enter Seamster’s cell with his head and hands wrapped in fabric. Forty minutes later, the tape showed Seamster leaving the cell to stagger toward a phone to call for help.

Other inmates testified the two had gotten into an argument the night before the beating.

Seamster testified in late Oc-tober that Wright kicked and punched him before choking him unconscious.

As Seamster regained consciousness, he testified, Wright told him, “I ought to kill you like I did the last one.”

In October, a jury found Wright guilty of the May 3 slaying of 19-year-old Justin Baumgard-ner. Wright was subsequently sentenced to 63 years in prison for the murder and related gun charges.

His sentence Friday will make that a 68-year term.

In contrast to Wright’s four-day murder trial, which was well-attended and featured scandal-ous testimony about his jealousy over a teenage girl, the court-room Friday was nearly empty with the exception of Seamster and Wright’s family.

There was no testimony and when asked if he had anything to say before sentencing, Wright declined. Before being taken out of the courtroom, he turned to face his parents, brother and sister but said nothing and made no gesture toward them.

Another inmate charged in the beating, Melvin Martin, was sen-tenced to a year in prison with four years suspended. Martin also pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful wounding.

Wright’s codefendant in the murder case, Justin Davis, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in December and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.