Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Steven Dale Branscome glances toward Virginia State Police Trooper Richard Hughes on Friday while leaving Mercer County Magistrate Court in Princeton, W.Va.

PRINCETON, W.Va. -- The Floyd County man accused of shooting a Virginia State Police trooper before going on the run for nearly nine days made the first of what will likely be many court appearances Friday for his preliminary hearing, and most of the charges he faces in this state are moving forward.

Steven Dale Branscome, 32, had been charged in West Virginia with wanton endangerment and malicious wounding of a police officer in connection with the March 28 shooting of Trooper Richard Hughes and with grand larceny and burglary in connection with crimes that happened the next day.

The first to testify at Friday's hearing in Mercer County Magistrate Court was Hughes, a trooper assigned to Giles County.

Hughes testified that he and another trooper had driven separate cars to a home on East River Mountain Road in Rich Creek to serve warrants the afternoon of March 28. There they saw a man sitting in a black car. As Trooper Richard Barton got out of his car to approach the driver, the car sped off, Hughes said. The driver tried to strike the two police cars with his own, he said.

Hughes took off after the car, following at speeds up to 85 mph for about 10 miles. The car crossed onto Dobbins Road and then went down the driveway of an abandoned house, where it struck a rock, Hughes said.

The driver jumped out and ran into the woods, he said. Hughes went after him.

"I noticed the driver took a kneeling position behind a tree ... and opened fire on me," he said.

Hughes said he intended to raise his weapon to fire back, but decided not to. Instead, he ducked. A bullet struck him in the back of the neck.

The pursuit lasted about eight minutes, Hughes said. Somewhere along the way, it crossed into West Virginia, a GPS device would later show.

Because of that, the most serious charge brought against Branscome was reduced Friday.

Lynn Fuda, one of his two defense attorneys, argued that the language in West Virginia law specifies that to be charged with malicious wounding of a police officer, the officer has to work in West Virginia.

That is correct "by pure technicality," Mercer County Magistrate Mike Flanigan said.

He amended the charge to malicious wounding and certified it to a grand jury.

Malicious wounding of a police officer carries a sentence of three to 15 years in prison, while a simple malicious wounding conviction carries a two- to 10-year sentence.

A grand jury could still choose to indict Branscome on a charge of the malicious wounding of a police officer.

Flanigan also certified to the grand jury charges of wanton endangerment and burglary.

He dismissed the grand larceny charge because a prosecutor didn't establish the value of the pickup truck that was taken from a home near Kellysville, W.Va. An item must be worth at least $1,000 for its theft to be considered grand larceny.

The pickup truck was the blue Ford F-150 that police were on the lookout for shortly after Hughes' shooting.

It was taken from a home just outside the perimeter police had established in their search for Branscome, West Virginia State Police Cpl. James Long testified.

A bloodhound smelled the hat police believe Branscome left behind when Hughes was shot, and the dog picked up a trail from the East River through a yard to where the truck had been parked, he said. The truck's owner had told police it had a broken radiator and there was only about a gallon of gas in the tank, Long testified.

Later the same day, someone reported that their Mercer County home had been broken into, West Virginia State Police Trooper Jeffrey Cook testified.

Missing items included a gas can with about 3 gallons of gas in it, a jug of milk, a can of instant coffee, a coffee cup, a Swiss Army watch, four knives and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Also missing was a black powder pistol.

A neighbor had seen a blue Ford F-150 backed up to the house that day, Cook said.

When the F-150 was found in Floyd County days later, those items were inside, said Sgt. John Pauley of the West Virginia State Police. So was a .25-caliber pistol, and ballistics tests showed that pistol was used to fire the bullets that left shell casings at the site of Hughes' shooting, he said.

Branscome was on the run from police until early the morning of April 6, when he was captured at a hotel in New Boston, Texas.

He was brought back to West Virginia on April 17 and is being held without bond in the Southern Regional Jail in Charleston.

He seemed to scowl during Friday's hearing as he sat between his attorneys, Fuda and Keith Darling, at an L-shaped table that also included a court reporter, Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Boggess and Pauley.

Officials have said Branscome will likely be charged in Virginia with grand larceny and other crimes and in North Carolina with charges related to two stolen vehicles.

He is being tried first in West Virginia where he faces the more serious charges.

Before Hughes' shooting, Branscome was already wanted on several outstanding warrants in Virginia.

In Wythe County, he was wanted in connection with burglaries and thefts at a home and business.

He was wanted in Pulaski County on a charge of communicating threats to kill. And in Floyd County he was wanted on a probation violation.