TOGETHER, IN DRUGS, ARRESTS AND DEATH

With a Baby on the Way and Incarceration Awaiting Them, Couple Gunned Down

Rachel Smith Austin and Rodney Leon Wright did a lot of things
together.

They had a son together, and a baby girl was on the
way.

They were arrested together in Austin's East End bedroom on New Year's
Eve 2002, when police found heroin and cocaine in and around her
king-size waterbed, along with what was described in court as "an
arsenal surrounding that bed."

They stood trial in Richmond Circuit Court together.

They failed their presentencing drug tests together.

They were recently convicted together, and received identical
five-year prison sentences.

They appealed their convictions together. They were out on bond
together.

Tuesday morning, they were killed together, shot to pieces by someone
firing more than a dozen rounds from an assault-style rifle into the
sofa where they were lying - together - inside the Chamberlayne Avenue
Apartment of Wright's mother.

But they won't be buried together.

To Rachel Austin's relatives, her life took a nose dive when Rodney
Wright entered the picture.

"That's when it turned to [expletive]," her brother
said.

As for Wright, he had largely maintained his freedom and avoided major
criminal charges until he hooked up with Austin, his court records
show.

Five months ago, while they were out on bond awaiting sentencing,
Wright sought a protective court order to keep her away from him.

"This one is really sad," said Ted Bruns, Austin's court-appointed
defense attorney. "It sends a chill through you."

Even hardened Richmond police officers and investigators were wrenched
by the brutality of the slayings.

"It was pretty bad," Richmond Police Chief Andre Parker said. "Anytime
you have an assault-style weapon involved . . . "

The killer fired more than a dozen rounds from an AK-47-type rifle,
Parker said. That weapon is the same kind of war rifle being used in
Iraq and Afghanistan to kill and maim U.S. forces.

When Wright and Austin were arrested in her bedroom on New Year's Eve
2002, police found an AR-15 rifle wedged between the mattress and
headboard on Wright's side of the bed, court records show. That's the
civilian version of the rifle U.S. troops are firing at their enemies
in the Middle East.

Tuesday morning, the killer reportedly stood outside Wright's mother's
ground-floor apartment in the 3800 block of Chamberlayne Avenue and
fired through the living-room window.

"We believe whoever shot them had some knowledge of them," Parker
said. The working theory is the shooting was a result of a "beef"
between Wright "and someone else. Typically, these kinds of beefs are
over drugs or money. . . . We have some solid leads."

Parker confirmed that the couple's 8-month-old son and Wright's mother
were in the rear rooms of the apartment when the shooting occurred.

"It breaks my heart that these things continue to happen," he said.
"These kids are the ones who suffer the most. Their opportunity for
avoiding a tragic lifestyle diminishes."

While no one deserves to be killed like that, Parker said, it comes
down to "lifestyle choices." Those who use, possess or deal drugs and
are involved with firearms "exponentially increase the likelihood of
being a victim."

Bruns, a former Henrico County prosecutor, said that was a concern for
him when he argued for his client's freedom in court. But, "if you had
asked me which of these two people would meet a violent end, I
wouldn't have picked her."

It comes down to the individual's own choices, said Carolyn Grady, a
seasoned Richmond defense attorney who was appointed to represent
Wright. It's not the first time one of her clients has been killed -
or killed someone else - while free on bond.

"If I took responsibility for what my clients did while out on bond,"
Grady said, "I would probably kill myself."

Rachel Austin grew up in eastern Henrico. Her father died when she was
1, and she wound up being raised by her grandmother, said her brother
during a brief interview last week.

She attended Varina High School, where she had trouble with her
studies and had to repeat the ninth grade. In 1994, when she was in
the 10th grade, she withdrew from school to have her first child.

She married, but that relationship failed, even though she was still
legally married to that man at the time of her death.

Austin had no criminal arrests in the Richmond metro area until she
and Wright were apprehended together on Dec. 31, 2002, after police
showed up at her residence in response to a 911 call about a man
firing a gun.

Rodney Wright, a lifelong Richmond resident, had numerous arrests,
primarily for drunken driving and being a felonious habitual offender.
He had also been convicted of misdemeanor escape. He had been charged
with assault and battery (2002, dismissed in court) and felonious
assault (2001, not prosecuted).

Wright also made several trips to Domestic Relations Court, where he
was charged with assaulting his girlfriend, and later, his wife. (He
has a grown son.) Wright also was charged with failing to pay child
support.

He had been convicted of failing to appear in court, and also got in
trouble for failing to comply with a community corrections program.
(His relatives could not be reached for comment.)

But, as his lawyer argued during Wright's joint trial with Austin, his
criminal record didn't involve drugs or guns.

Grady argued that when police arrived at the room Austin was staying
in on Bailey Street that December night, Wright was just visiting her
and the drugs and guns weren't his.

Prosecutor Kevin Johnson argued that Wright admitted to sleeping in
the bed with Austin, and that the AK-47-type rifle and a .44-caliber
handgun were on his side of the bed. (Police recovered other weapons
from a closet.)

In the bed was a vial containing a small quantity of crack cocaine and
a rolled-up dollar bill containing heroin. Wright's identification was
found on the headboard.

Bruns told the court Austin "admitted she was a user of crack cocaine
and heroin. She acknowledged the heroin and cocaine found in the room
were hers." But he insisted his client knew nothing about the firearms.

Grady argued that her client knew nothing about the drugs or the guns.
"It's not a residence that's his," she said in Circuit Court. "It's a
friend's, and that is Rachel."

Johnson argued that the drugs, the guns and the amount of cash Wright
had in his pants pocket at the time of the arrest (two $50 bills and
21 $20 bills, while he had no visible means of support) indicated he
was a drug dealer, an assertion Grady denied.

The defense attorneys unsuccessfully argued the fine points of
possession during the October trial.

Richmond Circuit Judge Beverly W. Snukals, who heard the case without
a jury, convicted both Austin and Wright of possessing both heroin and
cocaine and possessing a firearm while in possession of those drugs.
The last charge carried a five-year mandatory prison sentence. Wright
and Austin were released on bond pending sentencing.

During the Jan. 22 sentencing, Grady successfully argued for a $5,000
freedom bond pending appeal of the convictions. She pointed out that
Wright had a newborn child in common with his co-defendant, and that
custody issues needed to be sorted out.

Bruns followed suit.

Three months later, Wright and Austin's destructive relationship
ended.

Their 8-month-old son is now in the custody of Austin's brother, who
cared for him while Austin was in jail awaiting trial.

Funeral arrangements for Rodney Wright were incomplete
yesterday.

Rachel Austin and her 7-month-old fetus, which she had planned to name
Bridgett, were buried together yesterday in Oakwood Cemetery.