Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990 TAG: 9003152241
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Leslie and Elizabeth Lambert waited in the almost-empty Wythe County Circuit Court room while special prosecutor Paul X Bolt conferred with Judge Willis Woods in chambers.
Elizabeth Lambert choked back a sob when Clerk Hayden Horney came in and told them Woods had accepted Bolt's motion not to prosecute the case, and signed an order dismissing it.
Similar charges were dropped in Carroll County last month.
Both counties had contracts with the couple's salvage firm to pay a fee for each abandoned vehicle delivered for crushing. The contracts were part of the counties' efforts to get rid of junked cars. Apparently, however, no authorized official in either county was named to examine the vehicles to be crushed and confirm demolition before payment was claimed.
The actual indictment in Wythe County, almost a year ago, charged that the couple stole property valued at $200 or more belonging to the Department of Motor Vehicles. The accusation was that the couple would crush cars in one county and include the same cars in billings for the other county.
The salvage business was paid $35 per crushed vehicle. The state pays each county $15 per car crushed.
The case had been continued in July, and the Lamberts subsequently claimed their attorney - who had died in the meantime - did not request the continuance. Under state law, a defendant must be tried within nine months after an arrest unless the defense asks for a continuance.
Bolt, who is commonwealth's attorney in Grayson County, was named to prosecute the case after Wythe County Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Baird disqualified himself.
Leslie Lambert was dismissed from the state police for having outside employment without permission. He has appealed the dismissal. The county contracts were with his wife.
by CNB