An Ironton woman will spend at least the next 23 years in prison for the June 2012, murder of an Elizabeth Township man.

Ashley Seagraves, 24, was sentenced to life in prison today in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court. She pleaded guilty Monday — just one day before a jury trial was to begin — to the shooting death of 53-year-old Delmar “Buddy” Jenkins, as well as charges of felonious assault on a Lawrence County Jail matron, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence.

The sentence for murder is life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years. Since Seagraves shot Jenkins, that adds a gun specification to the charge and with it an additional mandatory consecutive three years to the sentence, making her parole eligibility only after 18 years.

Seagraves was also sentenced to five years in prison for the robbery charge, to be served consecutively, making her eligible for parole after 23 years.

Sentences of three years for the tampering charge and five years for the assault charge will run concurrently.

Had Seagraves gone to trial and gotten the maximum sentence, she would have received life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.

Seagraves was indicted by a Lawrence County Grand Jury in June 2012 after she was arrested for shooting Jenkins in his home while he slept. A later indictment in August charged the woman with taking a safe from Jenkins’ home the night he was shot. The safe was later recovered from a wooded area by authorities.

Seagraves was later charged with felonious assault after she attacked a jail matron using an item she fashioned into a sharp weapon and tried to choke the woman.

 

For the complete story, see Wednesday’s edition of The Tribune.