04/11/08 — Public record

View Archive

Public record

By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on April 11, 2008 1:53 PM

Sampson man gets life for poisoning wife

CLINTON -- A Sampson County man pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the poisoning death of his wife Wednesday in Sampson County Superior Court.

Perry Bass, 49, of Lockamy Road, Clinton, was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole as part of a plea deal.

Tina Walters Bass was found unconscious in a bathtub at her home on Aug. 3, 2005 and died shortly after. An autopsy revealed she died from organophosphate poisoning. Organophosphates are found in insecticides and cause respiratory failure in humans.

Perry Bass's son, William, a Marine on leave, had died on Jan. 19, 2001, at home with signs that he also had been exposed to or taken a poisonous substance. His brother, Tony, had become sick in 2000 with symptoms similar to those produced by organophosphate poisoning.

District Attorney Dewey Hudson said he decided to pursue a plea arrangement given the difficulties of proving murder involving poison and the current ban on executions in the state.

Vehicle shot into

John Graham of Banks Court and Kyle Carlisle and Demano Accoo of Dawson Drive reported that someone unknown to them fired into their vehicle on the 900 block of Carver Drive on Thursday just after midnight, Goldsboro police said. Accoo had outstanding warrants for failure to yield and driving while license revoked. Police arrested him and a magistrate set a $2,500 bond.