PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — John Sherwood was convicted of first-degree murder in the Jan. 1, 2015 stabbing death of his 21-year-old wife Erica, at a home in Dale City.
It took a jury 46 minutes to render a guilty verdict for prosecutors Rick Conway and Brian Boyle who pushed for the first-degree murder penalty, the strictest allowable by law. Defense attorney Jennifer Zary tried to convince jurors the murder of Erica Sherwood was not premeditated, and that there was an absence of malice in the killing, and that her client deserved an involuntary manslaughter conviction.