RICHMOND – The state Court of Appeals has upheld an Augusta County man’s conviction on attempted first-degree murder charges after he tried to burn up a camping trailer in which his ex-girlfriend was sleeping.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, the court also upheld Danny E. Hearn Jr.’s conviction for violating a protective order the woman brought against him after he threatened to kill her several times and stalked her. Hearn, of Stuarts Draft, was sentenced in 2022 to a total of 17 years, with four suspended, on one count each of attempted murder and stalking, and two counts of assault and battery.
Now 51, Hearn is incarcerated at the Coffewood Correctional Center in Culpeper County. He is scheduled to be released in 2026.
According to court records, Hearn and the victim became romantically involved in 2020, and she moved her camper to Hearn’s residence on Greenbrier Drive. Shortly thereafter, the relationship turned violent, and Hearn was arrested in 2021 for assaulting her.
She received a one-year protective order against him that year which forced him to move out of the Greenbrier Drive address. He moved in with his mother across the street, and continued to monitor and harass the woman he once lived with.
In April of that year, the victim was asleep inside her camper when she was awakened by her dogs alerting her to a fire outside the vehicle. The door had been locked from the outside, but she and the dogs escaped through a window.
Surveillance video from the mother’s residence showed a man identified as Hearn approach the residence while smoking a cigarette. Moments later, recorded testimony indicated “an active glow illuminated the sky” behind the suspect’s former residence.
In his appeal to the higher court, Hearn admitted to setting the fire under the camper but did so only to frighten the victim, not kill her. He also claimed he wasn't served with the protective order from the victim, nor was he aware she had sought one.
He also noted that the circuit court ignored his rationale for setting the fire and allowed the jury to consider the attempted murder charge.
In its ruling, the appellate court’s three-judge panel ruled that evidence presented at the trial made it "entirely rational for the jury to find” Hearn’s intent to kill the woman, not just because of the fire but also phone threats made to her saying she could “live or die” based on the choices she made involving them.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Va. Court of Appeals: Stuarts Draft man's attempted murder conviction will stand
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