BEDFORD COUNTY, Va. – A man will spend 50 years in prison for brutally attacking a realtor at an open house in Mariners Landing in 2020.
This sentence was a departure from normal guidelines, according to the judge. He said he chose a harsher sentence because the case was so brutal.
Victim Lenora Farrington addressed the court describing the side effects of her injuries and PTSD she still feels after she was hit in the head multiple times with a wrench.
[READ MORE: Attacked realtor’s testimony reveals how she was nearly killed during her own open house]
“I’m not in a position to forgive him, I’m just not there yet,” Farrington said. “I feel for him, and I feel for his family, but at the same time it’s his good fortune that I am so strong because he should have been on trial for murder.”
Defendant Dustin Holdren took the stand to share what happened that day. He said he was in a meth-fueled state of paranoia and stopped at the open house recognizing the realtor on the sign but instead met Farrington inside for the first time.
He said he experienced paranoia that she was going to call the police about his drug use, and that caused him to pick up a wrench and strike her with it. In court, he apologized to Farrington.
“It shocked the community,” Bedford County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Lawrence Steele said. “It’s a case that you heard not only in Bedford, Roanoke but across the nation. I mean the entire Association of Realtors are impacted, they’ve changed the rules that they’ve had to abide by this. It’s really affected more than just Lenora.”
Farrington is still a realtor today, and she believes justice has finally been served.
“She’s still going to persevere, and she’s still going to fight but certainly my job is over,” Steele said.
10 News reached out to Holdren’s defense attorney who declined to comment.
Farrington recommends all people look into self-defense or martial arts classes because she says that helped her and an attack can happen when you least expect it.