Superior Court results from Aug. 8 are listed

An Alleghany County man, 38-year-old Gregorio Rivera Cruz, was found guilty of second-degree murder in a plea agreement in Alleghany County Superior Court on Monday. The agreement was accepted by Superior Court Judge Todd Burke.

Cruz pled no contest to the charge and was sentenced to 157 to 198 months (about 13 to 16-and-a-half years) in prison, minus the seven-and-a-half months that he served awaiting trial.

Cruz was charged with the stabbing death of 35-year-old Bethany Brintle Goins on Dec. 21, 2004. He earlier had pled not guilty to a first-degree murder charge in Alleghany County Superior Court.

Goins died after being stabbed multiple times after what appeared to be a domestic altercation, according to a report by investigating officer Capt. Carlton Edwards of the Alleghany Sheriff’s Department. Goins listed an address in Dobson, while Cruz’s last known address was on Bledsoe Creek Road. Both were apparently staying with a friend at a mobile home on N.C. 18 south.

Cruz was represented by Garland Baker. Neither Baker nor prosecutor John W. Sherill could be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Dewey Brooks

Duane Edgar “Dewey” Brooks will not face the death penalty, according to a ruling entered by Judge Burke and recorded in the Superior Court Calendar.

Brooks is pleading not guilty to the charge of first-degree murder in the Rule 24 hearing and continues to be held in the Alleghany Jail under a $250,000 bond.

The maximum sentence Brooks could receive is life in prison if he is convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his son, 31-year-old Benjamin Howard Hartman.

Brooks was arrested on May 24 and charged with first degree murder in the death of his son.

Brooks, 55, is alleged to have killed and buried his son on a piece of property on which both men lived at 1040 White Pine Rd. That small, unpaved rural road connects to Jarvis Road, which connects to N.C. 18 north of Sparta. Hartman had been separated from his biological father from a young age and took the name of his stepfather. He lived in Spencerville, Ohio prior to coming here in November 2004 to try and build a relationship with his father.

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