Freddie Lee Cephas was convicted today of second degree murder in a Henrico County case expected to illustrate at sentencing years of neglect and abuse of the deaf and mute man at the hands of mental health professionals and other caregivers.
Cephas, speaking through an interpreter, told Henrico Circuit Court Judge Gary A, Hicks he understood details of the case in which he stabbed to death his live-in girlfriend, Hazel Jackson, 53, in March last year after an argument over his plan to leave for Florida.
"I feel all messed up but I understand," he told Hicks.
Cephas, 38, was arrested near the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority offices in Richmond high on drugs and alcohol and investigators found Jackson's lifeless body after climbing through a window of the home the couple had shared on Varina Point Lane near Old Osborne Turnpike.
Cephas had sent text messages to a relative that alarmed the woman about what he may have done.
Jackson worked for the Federal Aviation Administration and the Richmond Urban League.
Cephas nearly stabbed to death another woman in the city in August 2009 and was later almost beaten to death by gang members in retaliation.
Family members of Cephas have said for years that he was not getting adequate mental help and defense lawyer Craig Cooley said in court today that he has accumulated thousands of pages of treatment records that he will bring to light at sentencing July 30.
bmckelway@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6601
