High-speed chase ends with conviction for Madison Heights man

A Madison Heights man who led police on a high-speed chase into Lynchburg before driving his car into a taxi was convicted of attempted involuntary manslaughter Tuesday morning.

William Ellis Roberson, 34, was initially charged with attempted murder after the Jan. 28 wreck.

According to testimony, Roberson got into a fight with his girlfriend that night at their home in Madison Heights.

Crystal Boyd testified she told Roberson to leave during the argument. She said Roberson was drunk and that he tried to leave in her father’s Oldsmobile.

She and another witness testified she was able to get into the car and removed the keys from the ignition. However, she said, Roberson found a spare set and got back into the car.

She got into the car to take the keys again, and this time two of her teenage daughters got on the hood of the car to try to prevent Roberson from getting away, she testified.

Boyd’s 16-year-old daughter testified Roberson put the car into reverse, knocking her and her sister off the car and onto the ground.

Crystal Boyd told the court Roberson sped away on Wright Shop Road. She asked him to stop to let her out, but he kept going, so she used her cell phone to call 911.

The recorded call, which was played for the court, captured Roberson telling Boyd, “this is going to end in death.”

Virginia State Trooper J.K. Bartley testified he chased Roberson across the Carter Glass Bridge at speeds of around 100 mph before seeing him smash his car into a taxi cab that on the Lynchburg Expressway.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Doucette argued Roberson’s comment coupled with the trooper’s dashboard camera video that showed Roberson making a sharp turn into the path of the cab proved he was trying to kill Boyd.

Defense attorney Aaron Boone countered that Roberson was drunk and that the collision was an accident. Boone pointed to earlier testimony from Boyd, who said she took Roberson’s comment to mean he planned to kill himself and that he didn’t care if she died, too, to show he did not intend to kill her.

Boone also argued Roberson was so drunk that he couldn’t have formed the intent to kill her in his head.

He said the comment was, “ill-timed hyperbole.”

Judge Leyburn Mosby ruled that although he believed Roberson intentionally wrecked the car, he didn’t do so with any malice toward Boyd, just that he was drunk and mad.

Roberson is scheduled to be sentenced in October. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on his conviction Tuesday.

He is being held at the Blue Ridge Regional jail without bond.