ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
The state can prove Frank Helvestine III helped plot a racially motivated pipe-bomb attack that unintentionally killed a toddler 21 years ago in Roanoke County, Helvestine's lawyer conceded Wednesday.
During a hearing in Roanoke County Circuit Court, attorney Thomas Blaylock said his client provided the materials for the bomb but did not plant it and should be charged only with being an accessory before the fact, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.
Blaylock also questioned whether his 75-year-old client can be charged with first-degree murder and arson under the laws in effect at the time of the May 1975 explosion.
Wednesday's hearing offered a glimpse into the technical legal turns the case may take. But it also provided a look at some of the evidence and witnesses investigators have against Helvestine, most notably his son-in-law.
David Runion could testify about Helvestine's motive for participating in the attack, according to Roanoke County Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Burkart. The explosion apparently was meant to intimidate the car's owner, a white woman who was dating a black man. The woman and Helvestine both worked for the Norfolk and Western Railway.
To make the first-degree murder charge stick in this case, the state must prove that the killing occurred as the result of an arson. In asking for dismissal of the murder charge, Blaylock argued that under the law in 1975, arson was strictly defined as setting fire to a house at night.
Burkart argued that the law at that time embraced a broader definition of arson that included the burning of personal property such as a car.
The court is expected to rule in April.
If Blaylock's motion succeeds, prosecutors may be limited to pressing an involuntary manslaughter charge.
The pipe-bomb case lay dormant until last spring, when an informant told police about Helvestine's involvement. Helvestine was indicted in October on first-degree murder, arson and malicious wounding charges.
On Wednesday, Blaylock agreed that prosecutors have enough evidence to prove that Helvestine talked with a man who asked Helvestine to obtain pipe bomb materials, and that Helvestine did obtain them for the man, who remains unnamed and is now dead.
Blaylock said Helvestine suggested that a five-minute fuse be used on the bomb and that it be placed underneath the gas tank of the car. Three days before the bombing, Helvestine and the man surveyed the location of the car.
Blaylock said his client told Runion, who lived two miles from the bomb site, that he might need to "duck into" his house. However, Helvestine remained at home the night the car bomb exploded at the Kings Arms apartments on Lancelot Lane.
Helvestine never intended to hurt anyone, Blaylock said.
"His intention was only to trash a car," he said in asking for dismissal of the two malicious wounding charges. Blaylock argued that without intent the state cannot prove the charges.
The May 10, 1975, blast occurred at 10 p.m. just as 23-month-old Carrie Ann Mask, her parents and a 14-year-old Salem boy walked behind the car.
Mask died after being hit in the head with fragments from the bomb. Her father and the teen-age boy were burned on the legs.
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