Eagle Scout/honor student pleads guilty to killing father
Annie4007
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=76948&ran=150607
CHESAPEAKE — Shane Cubbage pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree
murder and faces up to life in prison for killing his 43-year-old
father last year.
The 18-year-old former Hickory High School student entered a
conditional guilty plea in Chesapeake Circuit Court, where he was
scheduled to stand trial this week for first-degree murder . Cubbage,
16 at the time of the crime, is to be sentenced in January.
He fatally shot his father, Forrest G. Cubbage , on May 5, 2003, in
the family's home in the 1500 block of Waterway Circle, off
Centerville Turnpike .
Forrest Cubbage died from a single .38-caliber gunshot to the back of
the head, prosecutors said.
During the hearing Monday, Shane Cubbage said little more than an
occasional "yes, sir" when questioned by Circuit Judge V. Thomas
Forehand Jr. The Eagle Scout and honor student told the judge he had
finished the 11th grade and that he had worked at a McDonald's
restaurant and a pizza shop.
Cubbage's conditional plea of guilty will allow him to appeal certain
pretrial rulings to a higher court. In the appeal, Cubbage is expected
to challenge a court ruling that precluded him from using allegations
that he was sexually abused by his father.
Forehand ruled in September that Cubbage could not use the sexual
abuse allegations and testimony from mental-health experts to prove
"battered child syndrome" or to show how long-term effects of abuse
factored into the killing.
Commonwealth's Attorney Randall D. Smith said he doubts an appeal will
be successful.
Exhibit 1 of the Commonwealth's evidence was a signed letter found
days after the killing in a shelter along the Appalachian Trail north
of Roanoke. In the one-page letter, Cubbage wrote: "I murdered my own
dad and had to run here in the mountains, but my mind isn't capable of
this. I want to die."
If the case had gone to trial, forensic scientists would have
testified that the letter matched Cubbage's handwriting, Smith said.
The prosecution also had a 52-page police confession.
If Cubbage wins an appeal, the case could be returned to Circuit Court
for a trial that includes the allegations of abuse.
Smith and Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Lori B. Galbraith will seek
the maximum punishment of life when Cubbage is sentenced in January.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors withdrew a charge of using
a firearm in the commission of a crime.
In summarizing their case, Smith and Galbraith contend that Cubbage
grew angry with his father's insistence that he take part in household
chores even through he had worked that day at the pizza shop. He also
was upset with his father's strict discipline, prosecutors said.
As his father worked on May 5, 2003, to put up wallpaper in the house,
the teen walked up behind him with a revolver and fired the gun into
the back of his head, according to prosecutors.
To insure his father's death, Cubbage put a plastic bag over the
victim's head. He then submerged his father's head in a bucket of
water, prosecutors said.
He wrapped the body up in blankets and electrical cords, Smith said.
The day after the killing – with the body in the house – Cubbage
invited friends over for a party, which included marijuana and
alcohol, Smith said.
The next day, the teen fled west to the mountains of Virginia.
He returned home a day later and threw another party, which included
more drugs and alcohol. His friends were unaware of the body during
the two parties, Smith said.
Cubbage's mother was on Navy deployment to the Middle East at the time
of the murder.
Cubbage's attorney, John Brown, was seeking to show a Chesapeake jury
that his client was a victim himself, enduring several years of sexual
abuse at home. Brown will get the opportunity to present such evidence
during Cubbage's sentencing hearing, which is scheduled to last three
days.
According to Cubbage's version of events, the abuse occurred from
September 2001 until May 4, 2003, the day before the senior Cubbage
was killed. The defense has argued that Cubbage was forced by his
father to perform sexual acts against his will.
In addition, there were repeated incidents of psychological abuse
against the teen, according to the defense.
The father also ordered his son to create a sexual videotape of
himself. According to the defense, the father intended to use the
video for his private viewing.
Killing his father – at least in the teen's mind – was the only way to
avoid bodily harm or threat of death, the defense had argued.
Cubbage suggested that the killing was self-defense.
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heathe...@gmail.com
> HE IS MY BROTHER ITS NOT HIS FAULT FOREST RAPED HIM WHILE MOM WHAS AT SEA
I knew Forrest and grieve for his soul...the Forrest I knew would never do what you say! I hope your brother spends the rest of his life behind bars!
