After one hung jury, five abandoned trial dates, a disbarred lawyer and more than six years of waiting for justice, the Louisa County man accused of opening fire during a child custody exchange in an Albemarle County grocery store parking lot has pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding.
Ingram Ashley Morgan Pancham, 39, of Bumpass, accused of shooting the mother of his child and her boyfriend as the child watched, recently gave an Alford plea in Albemarle Circuit Court, an admission not of guilt but that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to convict him.
Despite the lengthy passage of time, the Aug. 7 plea agreement showed evidence of a last-minute adjustment as the parties lined-out the phrase alleging the defendant was pleading guilty “because he is in fact guilty.” Instead, the words “pursuant to N.C. v. Alford” were hand-written and initialed.
An unlawful wounding conviction is a less serious charge than Pancham had previously faced: aggravated malicious wounding. Unlike the more serious crime, which can result in a life sentence, the penalty on the lesser count is capped at five years.
A person present for the plea hearing said that Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Richard Farley told the court that the passage of time had scattered the trial witnesses and that the victims agreed with this resolution.
”There is no agreement as to sentence,” noted the agreement, which dropped several firearm counts and one child abuse charge.
The child abuse count stemmed from the fact that Pancham’s son, age 6 at the time, saw his mother and her boyfriend struck by .45 caliber bullets in the parking lot of the Giant grocery store on Pantops Mountain just east of Charlottesville. The incident occurred on March 29, 2019.
Three days before the shooting, a Louisa court found the boyfriend, Kevin Fitzherbert Crawford Jr., not guilty of brandishing a firearm at Pancham. But Pancham, who had lodged the Louisa charge, would assert that he continued to fear Crawford.
Pancham, who had no prior criminal record, was released two weeks after the shooting and remained free on a secured bail. When he went on trial in November 2021, he argued self-defense. On the fifth day, the jury announced that it was hopelessly deadlocked, and the judge declared a mistrial.
After Pancham lodged the Louisa charge against Crawford, Crawford stoked tensions by publicly taunting Pancham.
”He was a tough guy until he realized he was about to be shot,” Crawford wrote on Instagram. “Look, if u step to me crazy, U will get shot.”
Crawford then wrote on the social media platform that Pancham’s son was calling him “daddy” and included laughing emojis.
Other trial evidence showed the shattered bones of the victims. The prosecution presented X-rays the of broken upper arm bone of Pancham’s ex-wife, Catrina Pennix. Another X-ray depicted the pins that now hold Crawford’s forearm together.
”Crawford further stated as he was fleeing from the scene, more shots were fired in his direction,” according to the complaint penned by Albemarle police investigator Dylan Leitch.
Additional prosecution evidence included a photograph of a stray bullet hole in the gas station at the Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center on U.S. Route 250.
Following the 2021 mistrial, new trial dates in 2022 and early 2023 were set and then discarded. Complicating matters were the professional problems facing Pancham’s attorney, Staunton-based Dale Reese Jensen.
In the summer of 2022, the Virginia State Bar suspended Jensen’s license for 60 days. Then in the fall of 2023, after multiple client complaints about outlandish fees, faulty representation, poor communication and misuse of their funds, the Staunton Circuit Court permanently revoked Jensen’s law license.
After getting new representation, Pancham obtained new trial dates in 2024 and as recently as March. His current counsel is Lauren Reese and Jonathon Packard of the Public Defender’s Office. Pancham is to be sentenced on Jan. 9.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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