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Graysville man sentenced for wife’s death

By Steve Barrett For The 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – A Graysville man convicted in May of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of his 17-year-old wife was sentenced Thursday to serve 6 to 14 years in jail. A Greene County jury on May 24 found James Russell Petrie, 28, guilty on charges stemming from the July 7, 2005, death of Jessica Kathleen Petrie. The jury found him guilty of one felony count of voluntary manslaughter, two felony counts of aggravated assault and one misdemeanor count of recklessly endangering another person.

He was found not guilty of first-degree murder, third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.

According to reports, Petrie was arrested on July 7 at his residence on Chapman Road in Richhill Township after shooting his wife in the head with a .22-caliber rifle. Petrie testified during his trial that he asked his wife to wash some dirty dishes the day before the shooting because he wanted to pack them and he wanted to pour the used dishwater on the ground to attract worms for fishing bait.

The dishes weren’t done the next morning and Petrie again asked her to wash them. She said she would get to them as she continued watching TV with him.

He said he “hovered” over her and tried to kiss her to get her attention, but she ignored him.

A .22-caliber rifle that was in the living room “caught my eye,” he said, and he picked the gun up. Petrie said he pointed it at her and said, “I should just shoot you” before pulling the trigger. The rifle fired and a bullet struck his wife in her right temple.

Petrie also testified that he did not realize the rifle was loaded.

President Judge H. Terry Grimes ordered Petrie on Thursday to serve a total of 6 to 12 years in jail for the voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charges, and ordered him to serve two years’ probation for the charge of recklessly endangering another person, which will be added to his sentence.

He also was ordered to pay $3,000 in fines plus court costs and $4,974.90 to the state victim’s compensation fund. He was given credit for time served.

Before Petrie was sentenced, Wendy Morris, Jessica Petrie’s mother, and Rosemary Ringer, Petrie’s aunt, read prepared statements, both holding back tears.

“There’s not a day or an hour that goes by that my heart doesn’t break … that I wish it was me, not her,” said Wendy Morris. “Our family is not the same without her. It’s not fair … She had her whole life ahead of her.

“No one will ever understand the pain that we are going through and the pain that we will go through for the rest of our lives,” Ringer said.

Petrie then took the stand and addressed his in-laws, apologizing for his actions in his wife’s death.

“I’m sorry. I made a terrible mistake,” he said. “I think about it very day. If I could turn back time, I would,” he said.

The couple had been married for a little more than 14 months when the shooting occurred. A student at West Greene High School. Jessica Petrie was a cancer survivor who had been cancer-free since 1996.

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