City man sentenced to life for killing UVa grad

A Charlottesville man who admitted that he shot and robbed a University of Virginia graduate will spend life in prison.

Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Edward L. Hogshire sentenced William Douglas Gentry Jr., 23, to two life sentences on capital murder and robbery charges, 50 years on a breaking and entering charge and 13 years on three firearm charges.

Virginia abolished parole in 1995. Even so, Hogshire specifically sentenced Gentry to life without the possibility of parole on the capital charge.

Gentry is accused of being one of two gunmen who shot Jayne Warren McGowan at her home Nov. 8, 2007. Authorities said Gentry and his co-defendant and cousin Michael Stuart Pritchett stole the 26-year-old woman’s laptop and car.

Gentry pleaded guilty in December as part of a plea agreement, under which the prosecution said it wouldn’t seek the death penalty.