Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003212151
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Short
Soering's defense attorneys and the prosecutor Tuesday filed their latest set of legal "briefs," but they were anything but that.
Commonwealth's Attorney James Updike filed a 56-page argument arguing that Soering's incriminating statements to police in 1986 should be allowed in court. Updike topped that off with a healthy stack of related court cases - 36 cases in all.
Detroit lawyer Rick Neaton, who is defending Soering against charges he killed his girlfriend's parents in 1985, submitted a 30-page brief on why the incriminating statements should be thrown out. He quickly followed that up with a 31-page "amended" brief on the issue.
Stacked together, the "briefs" made a pile of paper about 4 inches high.
Such lengths are nothing new in this case, though. Soering's court file was already 294 pages long - with motions, subpoenas and lab reports - before the briefs showed up. And Soering's trial doesn't start for more than two months.
With no room for them in Soering's file, the briefs got their own folder in the Bedford County Circuit Court clerk's office Tuesday.
Circuit Judge William Sweeney has said it may be as long as 30 days before he reads the briefs and rules on the issue.
by CNB