A Virginia man was sentenced on Friday to more than 106 years in prison for the strangulation of a woman in 2020 and the abduction and murder of his girlfriend in 2022.
Gary Morton was sentenced in Norfolk Circuit Court.
On July 25, 2023, a Norfolk jury convicted Morton of strangulation, abduction, intentionally damaging property, and assault and battery, after Morton attacked a woman inside her downtown apartment on Sept. 26, 2020.
On Oct. 12, 2023, a Norfolk jury also convicted Morton of the first-degree murder of 40-year-old Marie Darshaun Covington, the concealment of Covington’s body, Covington’s abduction leading up to her murder, the attempted malicious wounding of a man shortly after Covington’s abduction and associated firearm charges from a series of events last summer that culminated in Covington’s body being found in a trash bin.
Judge John R. Doyle, III sentenced Morton for the 2020 incident to serve an active sentence of 8 years and 10 months in prison plus additional suspended sentences.
Judge Joseph C. Lindsey sentenced Morton to an active term in prison of 98 years for the abduction and murder of Covington and the attempted malicious wounding of a good Samaritan.
The two sentences will run consecutively, meaning that Morton was sentenced to a total active term of 106 years and 10 months.
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Crystal Graham
