Man gets five life sentences

By JEFFREY SIMMONS/Staff

The house has been rebuilt; the physical wounds have healed some, but the psychological damage from a deadly 2008 shooting rampage and arson in eastern Wythe County is still raw.
“I’m scared every day of my life,” a tearful Sharon Bane told a judge on Monday afternoon during the sentencing hearing for the 60-year-old man convicted of gunning down her husband, wounding her father, sexually propositioning her stepson, burning down her house and shooting a police officer who tried to help.
Bane was one of three victims to offer testimony in Wythe County Circuit Court before Douglas Albert Jaccard’s punishment on 14 felonies stemming from different – but, according to the commonwealth’s attorney, related – crimes in the Dyer Road neighborhood where Jaccard and the victims – including slaying victim 45-year-Joseph Foster Bane -- lived.
In the end, the unemployed Vietnam veteran with a violent criminal past received five life terms plus 48 years for his actions two years ago. He still, though, can appeal his conviction on some of the charges.
“Their lives will never be the same,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Jerry Mabe said on Monday in describing the crimes’ lasting effects on Joseph Bane’s family members. “The impacts on that neighborhood and the family are tremendous.”
Jerry Covey, Joseph Bane’s father-in-law, said he’d been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from being shot in the arm with a high-powered rifle shortly after his son-in-law was gunned down on Dec. 16, 2008.
“I constantly hurt,” said Covey, a former heating and air conditioning technician, who at one point during his testimony held up his left arm to show the wound. “There’s not a day goes by that I don’t hurt.”
Kim Bane, Joseph Bane’s ex-wife, talked about the slaying’s impact on her and the three children she shared with her late ex-husband.
“It’s been a very big adjustment and strain on our lives,” she said, adding that her teenage son whom Jaccard was convicted of soliciting for oral sex had been blaming himself for his father’s death.
“It’s taken a huge toll,” she added.
The most emotional testimony, though, came from Sharon Bane.
Recounting some of what happened on that December morning after she dropped her daughter off at the school bus stop and returned home to find her bleeding husband in the front yard, Sharon Bane described the physical and mental anguish she still experiences two years after the shooting.
“Me and my son saw a hole blowed through my dad’s arm,” said a visibly shaken Bane seconds before a court bailiff brought her a box of tissues.
Bane said she would never forget what her son screamed to the 911 dispatcher after they retreated inside their house, which Jaccard set on fire and burned to the ground.
“Help me because I don’t want to die today,” Bane said her then 14-year-old son screamed out.
While the son escaped first, Sharon Bane remained in a bathroom and bedroom as smoke alarms begin to shriek and Jaccard’s “evil laugh” filled the residence.
“It still haunts me today,” said Bane who’s in therapy and taking medication for her post-traumatic stress.
While Bane was able to rebuild her house in roughly the same spot, she said changes to the landscape and in the location of the residence weren’t enough to mask what happened there.
“It is very traumatic to be there,” she said, adding that her son who at first was OK with rebuilding won’t stay there anymore.
Asked by Mabe whether she had anything else to tell the judge, Bane said that there was no punishment for Jaccard that could replace her husband and that she refused “to be robbed of another day” by him.
In sentencing Jaccard, Showalter said he hoped Sharon Bane was able to follow through on that promise.
“You took a road – a twisted road, and through your actions…your actions are some of the most heinous crimes this court has ever seen,” he said. “…This court can show no mercy whatsoever as to your actions.”
Jaccard, who except for pouring a cup of water with his one unshackled hand, sat motionless and looked straight ahead throughout Monday’s sentencing hearing.
He loudly answered, “No,” when the judge asked him if he’d like to make a statement or knew of any reason why he shouldn’t be sentenced.
In addition to getting a life sentence for killing Bane, Jaccard received four more life sentences on charges of attempted capital murder (two counts), burglary and arson.
He received six years on the indecent liberties convictions stemming from his March 18, 2008, encounter with Joseph Bane’s son. Jaccard went on his shooting spree one day before he was slated to appear in court on that charge.
Other charges for which he received prison time included use of a firearm in commission of a felony, malicious wounding, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing explosives.
Although a jury convicted Jaccard of the indecent liberties charges, he pleaded guilty to most of the other charges in January. During that hearing, Showalter denied a defense motion to suppress statements Jaccard made to police the night of his arrest. Jaccard was on the lam for three days before officers found him hiding underneath a table inside his Dyer Road residence. The manhunt involved a horde of armed officers on the ground and in the air.
Jaccard contends that police continued to interrogate him after he said he didn’t want to talk about “specifics” about the incident without talking to an attorney.
If he files and wins on appeal, Jaccard’s shooting case could be sent back for another trial. He has 30 days after the final order is signed, which usually takes a couple of days after sentencing, to note an appeal.
Jeffrey Simmons can be reached at 228-6611 or jsimmons@wythenews.com.