Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412050043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Pennington, 55, who is serving a 90-month federal drug sentence, will be tried in February on one count of murder and one count of use of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The former Vinton resident is accused of murdering Mullins, a 35-year-old Mount Pleasant woman who has been described as a drug dealer-turned-informant, at her home April 14, 1991.
A Roanoke County judge sent the case to the grand jury in October after Pennington's former girlfriend, who is HIV-positive, was wheeled into the courtroom on a hospital gurney and testified that Pennington told her he shot Mullins in the face.
According to the witness, Karen Warner, Pennington killed Mullins because she owed him $22,000. Warner told the judge she lied when police questioned her originally because she was afraid of Pennington.
The grand jury on Friday also indicted:
Randall Cofske, one of three men charged with breaking into a Catawba Valley Drive home and stealing a gun that was later used to kill a New Jersey vice detective.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mark Claytor said Cofske and two other men, who are serving two-year terms for their participation in the October 1992 break-in, stole 10 handguns and about $1,200 in jewelry, appliances and other items. One of the guns, a .357-caliber Magnum, turned up in New Jersey the following year when it was used to kill Detective John Sczyrek. The detective was shot in the head outside an Essex County courtroom, where he was waiting to testify in a drug case.
Cofske is due in court Jan. 18.
John Wesley Campbell, who is accused of breaking into the home of a 40-year-old woman and attempting to rape her in September. He will face 10 counts, including forcible sodomy, attempted rape, abduction and several burglary and larceny charges when he appears in court Jan. 19.
Keywords:
ROMUR
by CNB