
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990                   TAG: 9004040124
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV6   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE:    CHRISTIANSBURG -                                 LENGTH: Medium

ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE REDUCED TO AVOID PRISON TERM

Because of his age, a 72-year-old Riner man was not sent to prison for the attempted murder of a neighbor last year.

Jim Miles Hudgins of Route 3, Riner had been charged in Montgomery County Circuit Court with attempted murder and using a firearm while committing a felony in connection with the Jan. 20, 1989 shooting of Clarence T. Wood.

Wood was shot in the arm while working on his farm that morning.

To help Hudgins avoid a prison sentence, Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith agreed Monday to drop the firearms charge and Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore reduced the attempted murder charge to malicious wounding. Devore gave Hudgins a 10-year sentence but then suspended the sentence and put Hudgins on probation for five years.

Devore called it "a rather difficult case."

"I have to consider this man's age and the mental state at the time of this offense," Devore said.

Devore said he didn't want to put the man in prison because he was old and probably would not have survived a lengthy sentence.

Hudgins, a frail man who wore an oversized gray suit, had pleaded no contest to the charges in February after a grand jury indicted him in January.

Devore sentenced Hudgins Monday after reviewing a background report that had been prepared by a probation officer.

Hudgins had been arrested in August and initially denied being involved in the shooting of Wood. He told investigators that he had been at a Hardee's restaurant with a friend the morning of the shooting, according to court records.

He later admitted to the facts of the shooting and was held for a while at St. Albans Psychiatric Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

After he was released from St. Albans, and upon condition of his bond, Hudgins also received treatment from the county Mental Health Services' Horizons Home.

Devore reminded Hudgins Monday that, as part of his probation, he cannot possess any firearms. Devore also told Hudgins that he needed to clear up his ongoing dispute with a neighbor over some land.

"I want that stopped. It's either that or the penitentiary," Devore said.

by CNB