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WV MetroNews reported Judge Stephanie Abraham sentenced Dominick Curtis Gray in Beverly Hensley's death.
WV MetroNews reported Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, that Kanawha County Circuit Judge Stephanie Abraham sentenced Dominick Curtis Gray, 40, of Columbus, Ohio, to a combined 30 years on the manslaughter and firearms counts, plus 1 to 5 years for unlawful wounding. He pleaded guilty last month. The July 2024 indictment was a first-degree murder charge. A child in the account is not named.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer · · Updated
The plea WV MetroNews reported is to voluntary manslaughter, unlawful use of a firearm, unlawful wounding, and being a prohibited person with a firearm. It is not a conviction on the first-degree murder count in the July 2024 indictment. The lede says more than 30 years. The body prints a combined 30 years, and a separate 1-to-5-year term, and does not say those terms run together or one after the other.
WV MetroNews reported Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in a story by Daniel Woods published at 10:51 a.m., that Dominick Curtis Gray, 40, of Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced by Kanawha County Circuit Judge Stephanie Abraham on four criminal counts in the shooting death of Charleston resident Beverly Hensley. The lede says he will spend more than 30 years in a West Virginia state prison. The body says he pleaded guilty last month to voluntary manslaughter, unlawful use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, unlawful wounding, and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, and that Abraham sentenced him to a combined term of 30 years for the manslaughter and firearms charges, plus an indeterminate 1- to 5-year sentence for the unlawful wounding. More than 30 years, in the lede, and a combined 30 years, in the body, are not the same figure. The story does not say whether the 1-to-5-year term is consecutive to the 30 years. The Oct. 30 story does not print the day of the plea. Last month, counted from Oct. 30, is September. The story printed the phrase "four criminal counts connect with" Hensley's death.
WV MetroNews reported Gray was initially indicted on a first-degree murder charge in July 2024 for a shooting at a Lippert St. apartment on the day after Christmas in 2023. It reported a probable-cause hearing in 2024 revealed Hensley was shot five times and that a nine-month-old child, whom the story called her daughter, suffered a grazing wound. The child is not named here. WV MetroNews reported Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Gainer prosecuted the case. The Oct. 30 story does not print a courtroom quote from Gray, a credit for time served, or a parole date.
A guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter is the conviction on that count. It is not a conviction for first-degree murder. The firearms pleas are convictions on those counts. The combined 30-year term, and the indeterminate 1-to-5-year term, are the sentences WV MetroNews reported Judge Abraham imposed. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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