Waynesboro killer dies in prison
CRAIGSVILLE - Convicted killer Boyd W. Wiseman, sentenced to 26 years in prison for a 2014 workplace slaying in Waynesboro, is dead, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Wiseman was being held at the Augusta Correctional Center in Craigsville after being sentenced last year on charges of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
He was admitted into the DOC on Oct. 15.
Lisa Kinney, a spokesperson with the DOC, said Wiseman died Wednesday at Augusta Health in Fishersville. He was 56 years old.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Roanoke did not have a cause of death Thursday afternoon. "The cause and manner both are pending," said Tracie Cooper, the district administrator for the medical examiner's office.
Wiseman was convicted in the slaying of 38-year-old Jeffrey S. Earhart, a Staunton man who was shot to death the morning of Feb. 27, 2014, while eating breakfast at his desk at the F.R. Drake Company in the 1300 block of Hopeman Parkway.
Evidence at the trial showed he shot Earhart twice.
"I didn't know what I was doing at the time," Wiseman said at his sentencing hearing.
A psychiatrist testified at the same hearing that he believed Wiseman misused medications he was taking for various ailments, including anxiety, depression, insomnia and diabetes, and said he was suffering from "acute delirium" on the morning of the shooting.
Jim Camblos, one of his defense attorneys, was reached Thursday night by phone.
"He is a good example of what prescription medications can do to a good person," Camblos said. "My heart goes out to his family."