LIGHTS, CAMERA, SONNENBERG: Patriot’s Chris Sonnenberg threw five TDs vs. Colgan. Sports, Page 16
September 12, 2018 | Serving Haymarket, Gainesville and Western Prince William County | Vol. 17, No. 37 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢
Testimony begins in Hamilton trial Woodbridge man accused of killing wife, police officer By Amanda Heincer Times Staff Writer
The trial is now underway in the trial of Woodbridge man charged with shooting and killing his wife and a Prince William County police officer in February 2016. A jury panel of 16 – including 12 jurors and four alternates – was seated Monday in the capital murder trial of Ronald Williams Hamilton. In a selection process that stretched over five weeks, attorneys questioned more than 300 jurors before selecting
the jury, comprised of two men and 14 women, for a trial that is expected to last 12 weeks, ending in November. Hamilton, 34, pleaded not guilty to Ronald Williams multiple charges, inHamilton cluding three counts of capital murder, for the shooting deaths of his wife, Crystal Hamilton, 29, and Officer Ashley Guindon, 28. Hamilton also pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted capital murder for the shootings of two other police officers, who survived. If convicted of capital murder, Hamilton could be sentenced to death or to life in prison. On Tuesday, the trial began with
opening statements from prosecutors and defense attorneys. In his opening statement, Prince William County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Brian Boyle described Feb. 27, 2016, as a day that violence and tragedy came to the Lashmere Court in Woodbridge, which he described as “a quiet little street on the corner of suburbia.” The quiet of the day was shattered first in the Hamilton home, when Ronald Hamilton first assaulted and then shot his wife, Boyle told jurors. Neighbors heard gunshots, Boyle said, when Hamilton shot three police officers who responded to his wife’s 911 call. “The violence that just spilled out onto Lashmere Court was an extension of the violence that had started hours earlier in the Hamilton resi-
dence,” he said. Boyle played an audio recording of Crystal Hamilton calling 911 for help. Later, he played audio recordings of police radio transmissions sent by two of the first responding officers at the scene, after they had been shot. In his opening statement, defense attorney Edward Ungvarsky asked jurors to consider Hamilton’s emotional state at the time of the shooting. Ungvarsky suggested that Hamilton began to panic after his wife called 911. “Ronnie Hamilton started to feel his world crashing down on him,” Ungvarsky said, adding that Hamilton saw before him the end of his marriage, separation from his 11-year-old son, the cancellation of See HAMILTON, Page 2
Local schools’ pre-K enrollment reaches all-time high VA First Lady visits one of 44 county preschool classes at Featherstone Elementary By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
COURTESY PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY SCHOOLS
Virginia’s First Lady Pamela Northam visits with some of the children enrolled in a pre-K class at Featherstone Elementary School in Woodbridge on Wednesday, Sept. 5. Northam is visiting preschool classrooms around the state. INSIDE Calendar.............................................18 Classified............................................21 News....................................................3 Opinion...............................................12
Obituaries...........................................20 Puzzle Page........................................14 Real Estate..........................................19 Sports.................................................15
Virginia’s First Lady Pam Northam stopped at Featherstone Elementary in Woodbridge last week to visit with children in one of Prince William County’s 44 publicly-funded preschool classes. Northam talked to the children and read from Eric Carle’s “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” while they ate lunch at four round tables in teacher Emily Sasz’s classroom, one of several funded by the federal Virginia Preschool Initiative-Plus grant Prince William County schools received at the start of the 2015-16 school year. In part because of that grant, Prince William County has made progress in recent years in the number of children served by pre-K programs for low-income 4-yearolds and this year posted the highest number of preschool slots in the county’s history: more than 800. Initially, the county got off to a slow start when it came to offering pre-K. See FIRST LADY, Page 2
86 WARRENTON, VA