Bedford Co. murder trial: Therapist testifies Jocelyn Earnest was “looking forward to having a life” [The Roanoke Times, Va.]

Mar. 25--UPDATED: 4:56 P.M. -- POSTED: 1:01 p.m.

BEDFORD -- Prosecutors spent day three of Wesley Earnest's murder trial calling co-workers and friends of Jocelyn Earnest to testify that she never owned a handgun and that her sunny disposition made it unlikely she would kill herself.

The testimony in Bedford County Circuit Court on Thursday bolstered prosecutors' contention that Jocelyn Earnest was murdered in her home on Dec. 19, 2007, and her killing was staged to look like a suicide.

"Most days she came in with a smile on her face, just happy to see you, good morning always," said Loretta Tuck, who worked with Earnest at Genworth Financial in Lynchburg.

"She was a very friendly person, very upbeat," said co-worker Sherri Irvan. "One of the things I appreciated about her, she was always encouraging, always smiling."

Jocelyn Earnest's friends and co-workers also testified that they had never seen her with a handgun nor heard her speak about handguns, though one friend noted that she once kept a shotgun propped against a wall in her closet.

Prosecutors are trying to persuade jurors that Wesley Earnest, 39, an assistant high school principal in Chesapeake at the time of his estranged wife's death, drove roughly 200 miles to Jocelyn Earnest's Forest home, shot her with his .357-caliber revolver and left the weapon and a suicide note before driving back to Chesapeake.

Prosecutors say Wesley Earnest's fingerprint was found on the typewritten suicide note. The box the gun originally came in was found in his girlfriend's house in Campbell County, Bedford County sheriff's investigator Mike Mayhew testified.

Defense attorneys Joseph and Blair Sanzone have suggested that Jocelyn Earnest, 38, could have committed suicide, claiming that she was taking medication for depression and the prescription recently had been doubled. They have not yet had a chance to call witnesses to prove their assertion.

Defense attorneys have also suggested that if Jocelyn Earnest was murdered, the killer was not her estranged husband, but her close friend, Marcy Shepherd, who found the body Dec. 20, 2007, and called 911.

Ignoring the defense's effort to turn attention to Shepherd, Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Wes Nance spent Thursday giving jurors reasons to rule out suicide as the cause of Jocelyn Earnest's death.

Nance had Earnest's therapist, Susan Roehrich, testify that Earnest came to her with "depression issues" in 2005 regarding the disintegration of her marriage, but Earnest ultimately got over the heartache and was "looking forward to having a life." Roehrich said she last met with Earnest the day of her death, Dec. 19, and Earnest was upbeat and happy.

A friend of Jocelyn Earnest's, Jennifer Kerns, testified that she went with Earnest in March 2006 to the Smith Mountain Lake house the Earnests jointly owned. There, Jocelyn Earnest saw her husband having sex with his girlfriend, Shameka Wright. The incident, Roehrich testified, was a turning point for Jocelyn Earnest, who filed for divorce that year.

During the morning, Richard Roberts, a firearms examiner with the state's forensic department, testified that bullet fragments found in the living room where Jocelyn Earnest's body was found came from the .357-caliber revolver found by her body.

Robert Kerns, Jennifer Kerns' husband, testified this afternoon Earnest told him in 2006 that Jocelyn Earnest was not cooperating in the divorce, complicating his finances.

At the end of the day's testimony, a female juror was dismissed after telling the judge her mother is scheduled for surgery next week. Seven men and six women remain on the panel, though one of them is an alternate and will be dismissed before deliberations. The trial is expected to last into next week.

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