Judge William Watson sentenced Charles Stokes to 14 years and 8 months to serve for shooting Heather Burrow.

Tuesday's terms are the sentence on a guilty plea to six felonies. The Courier-Record printed 74 years imposed, 58 years and 4 months suspended, and six terms that add to 73 years if the firearm count is the three-year mandatory minimum it listed. WTVR printed 74 years with all but 14 years and 8 months suspended. Both accounts leave 14 years and 8 months to serve.

The Courier-Record reported that on Tuesday morning, Oct. 20, 2026, in Lunenburg Circuit Court, Judge William Watson sentenced Charles Aaron Stokes, 44, on a plea agreement. The paper reported he stood handcuffed in a blaze-orange jail suit, answered "Yes sir" when the judge asked if he understood the charges, if he was pleading guilty freely and voluntarily and because he was guilty, and if he had read the agreement, and said he was satisfied with his lawyer, Clinton R. Clary Jr. of Lawrenceville. It reported he answered "No, sir" when asked if he wanted to make a statement. WTVR, in a story whose address is dated Oct. 28 and which cites the Courier-Record, reported he was sentenced to 74 years, with all but 14 years and 8 months suspended, after pleading guilty to six charges. The Courier-Record reported the maximum on six felonies was 74 years total, with 58 years and 4 months suspended, for an active sentence of 14 years and 8 months. It listed 40 years, with 28 years and 4 months suspended, for malicious assault; a three-year mandatory minimum for unlawful use of a firearm; 10 years, all suspended, for shooting from a vehicle; 5 years, all suspended, for shooting in the commission of a felony; 10 years, all suspended, for maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle; and 5 years, all suspended, for abuse and disregard for the life of a child. Treating that mandatory minimum as a three-year term, those six figures add to 73 years imposed and 58 years and 4 months suspended, which is 14 years and 8 months to serve. The paper's printed total of 74 years is one year higher. WTVR's 74 years with all but 14 years and 8 months suspended would leave 59 years and 4 months suspended. The time to serve in both accounts is 14 years and 8 months.

The Courier-Record reported that on Sunday, Feb. 8, Stokes had been at Kenbridge Baptist Church hours before the shooting and was a few hours from an evening shift with the Kenbridge Police Department. It reported Heather Burrow, who had also been a Kenbridge officer, had left him after a domestic-violence incident in December. WTVR reported she said the day began with him sending messages asking her to church and to lunch, that she declined, and that he then asked her to pick up their daughter. The Courier-Record reported their daughter, then 15 months old, was in the back seat of his vehicle when he opened fire. The child is not named here. The paper reported special prosecutor Kemper Beasley III of Buckingham County said the bullets left a tight shot pattern in the driver's side window and struck Burrow in the arm, shoulder, and back, and that doctors could not remove one 9mm round. It reported the vehicle was struck about 10 times. WTVR reported he shot her 10 times. The paper's count is strikes on the vehicle and wounds to the arm, shoulder, and back. WTVR's count is 10 shots into her. The Courier-Record reported she was wearing a seat belt, threw herself toward the passenger seat, and, when the shooting paused, drove about two miles to the rescue station on 5th Avenue in Kenbridge. It reported restitution of $4,100 to David Boaz, owner of the vehicle Stokes fired into. It reported Beasley said that after Stokes dropped the child off he fled to North Carolina, and that testimony would reveal he admitted the shooting to two people. WTVR reported that in a June interview she said glass shattered, the gun went off, and she huddled over the center console.

The Courier-Record published her victim-impact statement from that morning and reported she sat 10 feet in front of him and that he avoided eye contact, a line WTVR also quoted. She said she has flashbacks of him pointing the gun, that she can feel the bullet left in her shoulder, and that if he had killed her their daughter would be an orphan. She said that as an officer he knew better, that he was a few hours from being on duty, and that she believes he would finish what he started if given the chance. The paper reported she agreed to the plea because Virginia sentencing guidelines could have produced a lighter sentence after a trial, and that juries in Virginia no longer recommend prison terms. It reported Judge Watson asked whether she was satisfied, and that Beasley told him she had input and was frustrated by the guidelines. It reported a review hearing on Feb. 4, 2042, and that she fears release as early as 2040 from time already served and credit for good behavior. It reported the agreement bars contact with her or their child, bars him from coming within 500 feet of their residence, and bars a petition to own a firearm until he has been out of prison at least 20 years. It reported he is the son of the late Lunenburg Sheriff Charles Warren Stokes.

The Courier-Record reported she still has a $143 million civil suit against Kenbridge Police Chief Christopher Wallace, her former boss. It reported she said she called him moments before the shooting, asked for an escort, and was told he did not want to get involved, and that he then notified Stokes. WTVR reported the suit, for nearly $144 million, names the Town of Kenbridge and the chief and alleges he failed to protect her after she asked for help. One hundred forty-three million dollars against the chief, and nearly $144 million against the town and the chief, are the two figures those outlets printed. The paper also reported her account of a December 2025 night when she said Stokes kicked a grill onto her, that a relative called the sheriff's office, and that deputies coded the call a welfare check. That is what she told the paper. It is not a finding in the Oct. 20 plea. Judge Watson called the shooting an "absolutely horrific event" and said this kind of violence usually happens somewhere else. The guilty plea is the conviction on the six felonies. The 14 years and 8 months is the time to serve on that plea. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.