Portsmouth man gets 45 years for slaying of homeless man

PORTSMOUTH

Jerry Chisholm, 55, was sentenced Thursday to serve 45 years in prison for the August 2008 slaying of a homeless man who had bedded down for the night in the alcove of a church ministry.

Edward W. Bell, a 58-year-old brick mason, died of blunt-force trauma to the head.

He had been struck multiple times, according to an autopsy.

Earlier that night, Bell and Chis-holm had been involved in an altercation, according to testimony that came out during Chisholm's trial. Bell went to sleep in front of a building on Green Street that Zion Baptist Church used as a drop-in center for the homeless.

Judge James A. Cales Jr. found Chis-holm guilty of first-degree murder. The judge sentenced him to 60 years in prison but suspended 15 years. He gave him 15 years of supervised probation upon his release.