FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 6, 2015
Contact: Heather F. Williamson
Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office
20 East Market Street
Leesburg, VA 20176-2809
(703) 777-0242
COURT OF APPEALS AFFIRMS 2ND DEGREE MURDER CONVICTION
ROBERT E. ROY REMAINS IN PRISON
LEESBURG, Virginia – January 20, 2015. In an unpublished opinion by Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr., the Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed the 2012 conviction of Robert E. Roy for murder in the second degree.
The conviction arose from the May 21, 2001 murder of Patrick Hornbaker. Roy shot and killed Hornbaker in Hornbaker’s Purcellville home during a robbery.
On February 3, 2012, Roy was sentenced to 27 years in the Virginia Department of Corrections, with an additional thirteen years of suspended time by Judge J. Howe Brown. Roy was further ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to the victim’s mother, and upon his release, he will be placed on supervised probation for an indefinite period of time.
Roy’s attorney filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals of Virginia challenging Roy’s criminal conviction, asserting that the Loudoun County Circuit Court erred “in sentencing Roy to an indefinite period of probation for committing a crime that has a maximum statutory penalty of 40 years,” thus rendering the sentencing order void. The Court of Appeals disagreed, and affirmed the conviction stating that the conditions of the suspended sentence were reasonable due to the gravity of the offense.
The affirmation of the conviction means that the sentence imposed by Judge Brown in 2012 remains in place.
Roy, age 51, has been incarcerated on these charges since 2008 when he was transported to Virginia to face prosecution. At the time he was brought to Virginia, Roy was serving prison time in the West Virginia Division of Corrections. His anticipated release date in Virginia is January 24, 2033.
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