NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) - A Virginia man convicted in the 1994 slaying of a teen has been granted parole.
The Daily Press reported Tuesday that 48-year-old Nathaniel Dale Pierce is the case's second defendant to win release. Pierce was sentenced in 1996 to 62 years in prison for the slaying of 19-year-old Steven Anthony Smith in Newport News. Court records say several men shot at Smith in July 1994, killing him instantly when a bullet hit his neck.
Pierce; his brother, Darryl Leon Hunter; and Reginald Lee Fletcher Jr. were convicted of murder in the case. They have maintained their innocence. The Virginia Parole Board voted in March to release the 43-year-old Fletcher in August. Pierce is set to be released in November. The now-39-year-old Hunter is up parole later this year.
