From staff, wire reports
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - A West Virginia State Police trooper resigned this week after he allegedly had a sexual relationship with a witness in a murder case he investigated.
Trooper W.G. Hash resigned Tuesday, State Police chief of field services Maj. V.S. Deeds told the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington. The newspaper detailed the allegations last week, and State Police conducted an internal investigation, Deeds said.
Hash was investigating the case against Bobby Edgar Thompson, 29, who shot and killed Raymond Christopher Chapman, 22, last year after Thompson found his wife and Chapman together in his wife's vehicle. Both men were from Lesage.
Thompson's attorney, Abe Saad, collected evidence of a relationship between Hash and Thompson's wife during the investigation and turned it over to prosecutors, the Herald-Dispatch reported. The evidence included photos, text messages and a recorded phone call.
Saad told the newspaper that after he turned over the evidence, prosecutors offered Thompson a better plea deal than they had previously.
Thompson, who was originally charged with murder and wanton endangerment, pleaded guilty last week to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for the original charges being dropped. Cabell Circuit Judge Paul T. Farrell sentenced Thompson to 15 years in prison, the longest sentence allowed for voluntary manslaughter.