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“Absolutely the proper verdict,” prosecuting attorney says of Raleigh County murder conviction

RALEIGH COUNTY, W.Va. — Three Raleigh County children may always remember the day their father died.

Now ages nine, 13, and 15, they were at their Beaver home on Apr. 18, 2013 when Michael Stines, 49, of Beckley, arrived with the gun he used to kill their dad.

On Wednesday, a jury found Michael Stines guilty of shooting Christopher Ward to death in 2013.

On Wednesday, Stines was found guilty of first-degree murder and wanton endangerment for the shooting death of Christopher Ward, 39, and immediately sentenced to life in prison with no chance of the parole due to the jury’s recommendation of no mercy.

At the time Ward was killed, Stines was dating Ward’s wife, Sharon Ward.

According to the investigative timeline, Ward, who was a coal miner, had arrived at the couple’s home to collect some of his belongings.

Stines showed up later, defying Sharon Ward’s instructions not to come at all.

“Absolutely the proper verdict” was how Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Keller described the outcome of the case following a trial in Raleigh County Circuit Court that lasted six days and included testimony from the three Ward kids who were not publicly identified.

“I decided, with my officer, we were not going to call those children as witnesses, even though they had valuable testimony, because they’d been through enough,” Keller said. “But the defendant chose to call them.”

In their immediate statements after the shooting, all three kids — who were six, nine and 11 at the time — said they were inside the home when the shots were fired.

Two testified that Ward had initially pushed Stines.

“The nine-year-old at the time said he heard the gunshots from inside, ran outside because he didn’t want to see the blood and that he and his little sister, after running outside, cried and prayed,” Keller said.

There were two shots, according to Keller. One hit Ward in the stomach, the other went ricocheting through the Ward home endangering others, the reason for the wanton endangerment charge.

“The evidence was that, after killing their father, the defendant put the gun on the kitchen counter which was on the opposite end of the house from the victim,” Keller said.

The paramedic who went in first was angry to find the three kids standing next to that loaded gun.

“One of the little boys begged her to save his daddy,” Keller recounted from the paramedic’s trial testimony.

MetroNews asked Keller Thursday, “Do you think Mr. Stines went to that home to kill Mr. Ward?”

“I do,” Keller answered. “It doesn’t matter legally because for premeditation we only to prove, as the court instructs the jury, any period of time between forming the intent to kill and carrying out the intent, but we took the jury on the jury view and it is a long, long, long ride he took.”

He “drove and drove and drove” from Beckley to Beaver, according to Keller. “He parked and waited. He went past the victim’s home the first time and then returned.”

Stines testified during the trial he was defending himself when Ward was shot with a 9mm pistol.

Keller rejected that claim. “If he had not wanted to kill, if he wanted to bring that gun in just to intimidate a man, all he had to do was keep the safety on and he admitted he took the safety off,” she said.

During her interview with MetroNews, Keller extended thanks to members of the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department for their work, especially Cpl. James Williams.

Ward’s attorney told the Beckley Register-Herald he was planning an appeal.

A December sentencing hearing was scheduled for the wanton endangerment conviction which carries a possible penalty of up to five years in prison. The question is whether that sentence will run concurrently or consecutively with Stines’ life sentence.





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