William Charles Morva, accused of killing a hospital security guard and a Montgomery County sheriff's deputy after his escape in August, will serve 38 years in prison on a robbery conviction, a judge ruled today.
 
Morva, 25, was sentenced this afternoon for his role in the attempted armed robbery of a Blacksburg business and failed attempts to steal from two others. Morva was an inmate at the Montgomery County Jail on charges related to the attempted robberies when police say he overpowered a deputy and escaped from Montgomery Regional Hospital, where he was being treated for sprains the morning of Aug. 20.
 
He is charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of security guard Derrick McFarland and Cpl. Eric Sutphin of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. A trial on those charges is scheduled for September but will likely be postponed.
 
A jury found Morva, of Blacksburg, guilty of seven charges in the robbery attempts after a two-day trial in March. The jury recommended he serve 38 years in prison.
 
He faced from five to 73 years on the seven convictions: Attempted robbery, use of a firearm in attempted robbery, conspiring to commit grand larceny, conspiring to commit statutory burglary, statutory burglary and two counts of attempted grand larceny.
 
Morva and another man wore masks and carried a shotgun and a rifle, both loaded, when they tried to rob the Deli Mart on Glade Road in August 2005, according to court testimony. The store clerk had already locked the door for the night, though, and the men couldn't get inside.
 
In July 2005, Morva and other men smashed the door to the Burger King on Turner Road and tried to break into a safe but couldn't get it open, and unsuccessfully tried to get into the ATM at the Freedom First Credit Union on Draper Road.