Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 17, 1993 TAG: 9306170046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals categorically rejected his last remaining lines of appeal Wednesday - including his main contention that there was no evidence of premeditation in the 1980 murder of Gina Renee Hall, an 18-year-old Radford University student.
The appeals court's ruling means there is little chance Epperly will be able to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case. The nation's high court has shown increased reluctance to review evidence - even new evidence - in criminal trials.
"That's great," Joan Hall, Gina Renee Hall's mother, said when told of the appeals court's ruling. She said she believes the evidence against Epperly "is overwhelming."
The worst part, she said, has been living with Epperly's 13 years of appeals without ever knowing where her daughter's body was hidden. "Anytime when you have the body, you have a chance to say goodbye . . . It's extremely hard . . . Funerals are very important."
She said she doubts Epperly ever will reveal where he hid her daughter's body. "He has nothing to gain."
Epperly didn't testify at his trial, but in several interviews with the Roanoke Times & World-News, he has maintained he didn't kill Gina Hall and consequently has no idea what happened to her body. He contends he was set up by police and prosecutors.
Ted Hogshire, Epperly's court-appointed attorney, said he plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. He conceded, however, that "it's a long shot," considering the high court's desire for more finality in criminal convictions.
Hogshire said he remains certain there was no evidence to support a first-degree murder verdict against Epperly. He argued to the appeals court that there was no eyewitness, no confession, no body and virtually no other evidence that would allow a jury to determine that the killing was premeditated.
Nevertheless, Hogshire said he was not surprised by the appeals court's ruling. "No one likes the fact that they didn't find the girl's body," he said, and that's a great part of what makes people think it's premeditated murder.
The appeals court said Hogshire and Epperly are wrong. The court said evidence was sufficient for the jury to infer that Epperly attempted to force sex on Hall. When she resisted, the appeals court said, they struggled and "at some point during the struggle, Epperly formed, through premeditation and deliberation, the specific intent to kill."
Hall disappeared after leaving a Blacksburg nightspot and going to a Claytor Lake house with Epperly. Small amounts of blood and hair matching Hall's were found at the house.
Epperly was the first person in Virginia convicted of murder in a case without a confession, an eyewitness or a body.
His appeal received national attention when he challenged the expert testimony of a dog handler who claimed his dog tracked Epperly's trail from Hall's abandoned car to Epperly's home eight days after the crime. The dog handler later conceded that his dog may have been tracking a policeman instead of Epperly. The handler also was accused of faking evidence in other cases in which charges subsequently were dropped.
The appeals court decision comes after earlier court rulings had rejected Epperly's claim that the dog-tracking testimony tainted his trial. The court also rejected Epperly's claim that the prosecutor interfered with a fair trial by improperly instructing police officers not to talk with defense attorneys.
by CNB